Local fauna - and a grand day out

They say summer's over, but last night was beautiful - even captured by phone cam.


"The mothers" in Jakob's class get together sometimes, last night only 5 of us met, but we stayed till closing time and enjoyed ourselves no less... Quite possibly the last night enjoyed at an outdoor place in a very long time.


This morning, walking to school, we met these cute creatures: 1 froggy (mum-size, about 3 inches /7,5 cms long) and 1 blindworm (or should I say ex-blindworm, it was thoroughly flattened by a car...) of about 8 inches (20 cms). It's one of only two snake types existing in this country, it's tiny and not in the least dangerous, but I was still grateful a car had had the thoughtfulness of completely bereaving it of all life before we arrived...

And now, for work. Home, that is...

Where I was and what I was doing

20 years ago
I started my last year in high school, and moved to my mother's place to stay for 6 months because my dad was away studying. I'd been living with him alone since I was 12, but since there were just a few kilometres separating their homes it wasn't that big a change. Except for the curfew rules...

15 years ago
I'd just returned from summer school in Thessaloniki, where I'd gone straight from my ancient Greek studies. Now I returned to do Latin, and was taking notes in Greek. Fat lot of help that does me now if I want to check out some Latin!

10 years ago
We were newly-weds dancing the days away. And working? Yeah, I guess we must have been.. And planning that we'd have somewhere between 4 and 10 kids (seriously).

5 years ago
We did have between 4 and 10 kids... After one year joint maternity & paternity leave, I spent this autumn home alone with the quads (Jakob being in kindergarten). The first day I cleaned the entire house. (Admittedly a smaller one than we have now.) The second day I went for a long walk - with three in the special pram and one on my back. From the third day onward there was always at least one sick(-ish), and I don't think I left the house until my hubby had another 5 months paternity leave from March... Not the 7-8 months I'd rather repeat. (Did you know that with 4 babies, the first one will wake up when the last one is put to bed...)

1 year ago
I was enjoying working life as a legal secretary (here in the lift at my old job) , still contemplating whether I ought to quit, though, so I could spend more time at home when the quads started school. And I was still high from our holidays in Crete in May, so I lived through the winter!

1 month ago
Still holidays :) Just back from Denmark.

Yesterday
Home, working, dinner, blogging, you know how it works...

Update: Yes, Julie, we did talk about 50 kids. At least. At one stage. But only because I wanted to name one son Ossian (admittedly, long before we knew we were having any...), and hubby said - ok, son no. 50 can have that name...

Quote of the day (10)

"Photography cannot replace painting before you can photograph heaven and hell"

Edvard Munch said that. (I'm sure he'd be pleased about the returned paintings...)

9/11

I wasn't going to blog about this date. But how could I not?

5 years ago, on this day, I was home minding the kids. Hadn't watched any news or listened to the radio or turned on my computer all day. Some time I managed to leave the kids to themselves and call my cousin, whose birthday it is today - and was then too, of course. She told me thanks, and I'd better turn on my tv. So I did, and was just in time - if that was a good thing - to watch the second tower fall down.

I was thinking about a couple of friends in New York. I was thinking about the people falling / jumping off the towers. But I was mostly thinking that Bruce Willis ought to show up and rescue the world right about now. He didn't.

On the news today (in addition to all the programmes about 9/11), there was a report from Sweden, about how the politicians needed armed police guards with them at all times. They hadn't started that 5 years ago, though, but since 9/11 - 2003, when a Swedish minister was assassinated at a shopping centre.

The world's moving in on us. But yesterday I saw one of the Norwegian cabinet ministers on the street. Noone else around, obviously no security people with him. I saw the Prime Minister the other week, he did have two security guards right behind him although they could hardly keep up with him on his bike.. And today I saw another minister, going to work, apparently. Pinstripe suit a little unusual (we're a very casual nation), otherwise he looked like the guy next door. And again, no security around.

Police in Norway aren't even armed. Hopefully, we can keep it that way a little while longer.

Endekiversary flowers

My hubby brought me these on our get-togethiversary, very nice, don't you think? The red ones are some African kind, rare around here at least. I like them a lot!

- But as my hubby asked the florist to put together something for his wife on a special occasion, she immediately suggested roses. He said no, he thought perhaps something different. "Oh. Not that special, then" the florist replied curtly...

She wasn't to know, of course, but he brings me flowers a lot - roses quite a few times - and wanted something different. Does it really have to be roses to be special? 

25 years ago today!

According to our sources (a cartoonist's calendar), today marks the exact 25 year-anniversary for one extraordinary event - Norway beat England at football for the first time! The Norwegian commentator - even more than the rest of an ecstatic nation - went completely berserk. These are his exact words (in Norwegian...):

And if needs should be... A translation of sorts here. It was, of course, a great day, a day to be remembered. And even though I'm an England fan at heart, this piece of commentary is worth remembering! (More match facts here and you can hear a clip right here.)

In 2002 The Observer voted it best sports commentary ever! If only everyone would be this enthusiastic about their work...

While we're talking about movies..

1) The first movie you remember seeing on the big screen
The very first one? It was Robin Hood - the cartoon - and it was the big opening night at Radio City Music Hall, New York City! I was 5... I didn't remember much of the film (until I saw it again once it came to Norway), but I remembered thinking (even at that age) the can-can dancers and the throwing of frisbees over the audience and everything before the film started was a bit over the top...

2) Movie from which you can quote multiple lines in your sleep
You may know that I've got a very good memory for quotes. Had it been possible, I'd major in quotes. PhQu, if you like. Still, which one to choose... Sleepless in Seattle just now, just saw it again the other day!

3) Director (dead or alive) that you’d most want to have dinner with
Erh, actually, he's a producer, not a director - but he's gorgeous, good fun and a great producer - listed among Hollywood's top 100 people to know if you want to make it in the film world (despite being a Norwegian), so I think I'd have to say Harald Zwart.

4) Movie that should have won an Oscar but didn’t
Can't really say. I don't know which movies do win the Oscars...

5) Movie that didn’t disappoint despite being the adaptation of a book
Tough one. I've only seen one LOTR film, that fitted neatly in with my own images of the book, so perhaps I'll say this one. (Or I could mention quite a few that did disappoint...)

6) Movie you were dragged to by someone else expecting to hate, but which you loved
Can't remember ever having to be dragged, I used to love going. I would now too, given time & opportunity..

7) Movie that scares the crap out of you no matter how many times you see it
I don't see that kind of films - at all. My sister always saw horror movies, even if she had to go alone, just "because everyone sees this one". She'd sit in the cinema screaming, and come over to sleep in my bed. So when I was old enough, I just didn't go there..

8) The movie that makes you bawl no matter how many times you see it
La vita e bella. I sometimes avoid seeing it again when it's on television, but it's such a fantastic film, I sit through it at times anyway.

9) The movie that still has you rolling on the floor with laughter no matter how many times you’ve seen it
Any of the Blackadder and Python films (and related, such as A fish called Wanda)

10) Movie that fills you with a special joie de vivre
Much Ado About Nothing, no doubt. Kenneth Branagh must have been Shakespeare in a previous life, and Shakespeare is such fun!

I wish...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Unfit

I feel a totally unfit mother. Again. And I'm not just talking about physically, where at least there's potential for betterment.

This morning Jakob was furious. Again. And I do mean furious. It feels like he has been raging for the past 4 years or so. He always regrets and says he's sorry. And then continues his rage 5 minutes later. He's mad at everyone in the family in turn, but mostly me. So there's obviously a connection here.

When other people are sad, frustrated, slightly annoyed, bored, scared or indeed furious - Jakob is just furiuos. There's only on and off. He drew this in school, the task was "emotions". You can tell he really knows about rage...

Don't get me wrong. He's the sweetest boy there is, loving and gentle and so concerned about other people's - mine including - well-being, and I love him to bits! But when something's slightly not right with the world, off he goes. I don't even get mad myself anymore when he does this (wonder where he got it from...), I just get sad. It's obvious I'm a complete failure as a mum, otherwise he wouldn't do this.

And now at least one of his little brothers seems to be turning into him. Had it but been all his excellent sides - and not this! I'm at my wits' end here, I'll be posting a "Vacancy: mom" next (- not here, IRL).

One of those days...

This morning, I lost my slice of bread - spread facing downwards, of course - but, lo and behold - the table was just as clean! Mysteriously. So I thought it was going to be one of those days. Luck is on my side and all that.

After work (at home) I went into town, met up with my friend C, we left her son S (my godchild) in one corner of a pizza place to celebrate a classmate's birthday, then sat ourselves in the opposite end of the pizza place. We talked, enjoyed our pizza, enjoyed our conversation, enjoyed eyeing up the young but gorgeous waiter (who was obviously used to this because he wasn't in the least embarrassed...), and had just ordered our desserts -- when the waiter mentioned, casually, in passing, that one kid in the birthday over there had hurt himself, and they'd been trying to call his parents.

C: "Well, can't be me, my phone's right here, see? Hasn't been ringing."
gorgeous waiter: "no, probably not, they'll find them. His name's S by the way"
C: "That's mine!"

- And off we went. Around the corner, on a couch, we were met by this (his white shirt not lessening the first impression of shock): There was a doctor in the place - pure luck - and he taped him up as best he could while we waited for an ambulance.

Eventually the ambulance arrived, they put S on a stretcher and in the car, we went with him.
Then - straight into the emergency ward. Where we waited. And waited. Actually only about 45 minutes, but it felt longer...
Cute doctor stitched him up. 2 cuts - one got 4 stitches, the other needed 12. (Now I've seen subcutaneous fat, nerve fibres and a muscular attachment too. Not something I'd like to repeat..) During the whole ordeal, S said nothing, only winced a few times - mostly when he had his 6 shots of local anaesthetic - and although he was swetting like mad under the green cloth, needed to go to the bathroom and actually felt a lot of the stitching, he lay still. Like broccoli (as Julia Roberts would have said in Pretty Woman..). His mum patting his head under the cloth and me walking to and fro, frantically changing between nausea and curiosity, the nurse assisting and pretending we weren't in the way...
When we finally made it home to their place, and S was put in bed - way past his bedtime - we felt completely drenched.. So it was actually one of those days... Surely, it's a bit much just to keep us from munching desserts that we don't need?

Can intelligence be learnt?

Browsing through one of those test yourself-pages, I found an IQ test I though I might try. (Had I known it was 100 questions I might not have bothered, but once I'd started, I couldn't quit, right?)

It turns out I'm such a brilliant girl I'll have Mensa come knocking on my door any moment now. The arrow's fallen out of the image but I'm right where the distribution curve ends. Amazing, right? Or not so...

You see, I've been taking these kinds of test before. My mum had a book full of them, in the end we were so great at it it's a miracle we're not heading Mensa international, or at least the Scandinavian branch... But I still never know if "Train A starting at 10 and driving 10 m/h and train B starting at 10:30 driving 15 m/h but heading south..." ever meet.

I've really just learnt a method of thinking, haven't I? Does that mean I'm extremely intelligent? (I'd like to say yes, of course, but...) So if someone who's never seen a test like this before, or had a chance to learn maths, fails horribly, does this mean he / she is stupid? I can't really see how that would connect - with anything..

So I think this one's at least as important (if even less accurate - it's only a few questions):

Your EQ is 140

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

And no, I've got no idea how I actually found the time to complete either...

August 31st

Today is our anniversary... Well, not wedding anniversary, but getting-together anniversary. 11 years today! Which means there must be pizza... We had pizza on our first "date" (it wasn't really a date) and have had pizza on this day every year since.

Someone asked how I knew it was this exact date - and assumed it had something to do with jumping into bed. Now I'm not going to tell you when we first jumped into bed, that's not your business ;) (But that we have, on occasion, is hard to deny, what with all those kids around...) I was in effect stalking this bloke, my colleague. Or wooing, as it were.. We'd "happened" to meet socially too (he wasn't that hard to woo...), and we'd had a meal or two together, but no flirting - as such - and no kissing at all. And to think in 4 months we were engaged, 5 more months, married..

But I know the exact date is today. 11 years ago, after work, I went with him to shop baby clothes - his brother's third daughter had been born in the morning (and happy birthday to you, J K, even if you don't read this), and he claimed he needed help with the shopping. Right. He already had three nieces and a nephew and babysat frequently, so I didn't buy into that, but pretended to, of course.

I was due to meet a girlfriend after work, but she (along with everyone else) had been hearing so much about him that she practically threw me off and sent me along with him to finally hook him... And after the shopping we were hungry, and went for pizza. Then he walked me home, as gentlemen do. Walked me all the way home. Followed me inside, I think we were leafing through old photo albums or something. AND talking. A lot. We always did. And do.

Eventually, he got up to leave. Eventually there was a goodnight hug. Eventually the hug turned into a kiss... And what did I say, my first, romantic utterings after 8 months of hard work?

- Now my friends will be really happy!

He laughed. Wouldn't I be happy...?

Yes. I was. And still am. So happy endekiversary (that ought to be a word!), hubby!

How much do you know about Norway?

Firstly, when I said Norwegians were "childishly optimistic" I was being nice. I think "naive" is the correct term... Why? Well, listen to this -
- "we don't have to save up, our oil will last forever!"
- "everybody knows about Norway, the nation that brought peace to the Middle East"
- "oh, and to Sri Lanka"
- "and there's the paper clip, still"

Secondly, a quiz about Norway's appropriate about now. Here, let's see what you make out of this...

Thirdly, I really must not stay up this late... Darn msn ;)

Scandinavian relations

Some of you were interested to know about Scandinavian interrelations. Well, I'm Scandinavian, so if you don't mind my lumping all Norwegians together and calling my humble opinion universal, well then, I'm off..

Firstly, Scandinavia. It's actually only Denmark, Norway and Sweden (listed alphabetically to avoid accusations of bias, ok?). If you add Finland and Iceland it'll turn out as The Nordic Countries. To us, that is. The rest of you still call it Scandinavia. (It's just the same that happened when a Norwegian I know (of) went travelling around the world, and although he insisted he was called Njål (...) people would say stuff like "that's all right, we'll just call you Bob!".. Digress? I wouldn't dream of it. )

Norwegians, on the whole, possibly spoiled by the ridiculous amount of money the oil's pouring into this country (if not into its inhabitants' pockets), tend to be rather optimistic. I was going to say joyful, but that's an exaggeration. It's more like kiddies' optimism. Only with a poker face. It's not true that Norwegians don't smile. They do. Just look: It's just that when you wear a woollen hat 9 months a year it doesn't show.

Norwegians are very proud of Norway ("didn't the UN just say that we were the best country to live in, again, this year?"), but we're not proud of things Norwegian. We mostly don't feel very attached to the old Norwegian culture at all, except for the bunad-wearing on the 17th of May and the Christmas lutefisk. Traditional dancing and music is very much a rural thing, and we'd rather talk about Madrugada, a-ha or Sondre Lerche... Or Sweden, actually - they've got Volvo, IKEA, Sony Ericsson - Abba, Roxette - Bjørn Borg, Tre Kronor ice hockey team, and a national side in football that's not just in various world cups, but doing well at it.

So, the further away from Norway we are, the more "uni-Scandinavian" we are - sure we can take credit for IKEA and Olympic gold winning olympic teams... Closer to home, we make fun of the Swedes, we have jokes about eachother, we claim they're a rather stupid people. But secretly, or not so secretly, they're the big brother we're really proud of, still rather annoyed at, for being so much better than us at everything... And they've got Astrid Lindgren.



We've got Swedish programmes on television and a lot of Norway has access to Swedish channels as well. Most Norwegians understand any given Swedish dialect on any given day. Swedes won't even try understanding Norwegian, so as soon as the border's crossed (- you can cross into Sweden a million places along the border, only a few are watched) Norwegians change into Norwedish, which is more easily understood, and which gives the Swedes the feeling that they do, after all, understand Norwegians...

Denmark will be dealt with later ;)

Fun exercise - family edition

Yesterday the whole family went for a walk in the woods. Ending up at a farm that's only open to the public on Sundays, but the football field was there even on a Saturday...

Scholiast hiking in unrestricted area - a few years ago

You may, or may not know, that going for walks is Norway's national sport no. 1. (I know I've said that it's football, but that's in registered members - you don't register anywhere to take a walk*.) Norwegians tend to walk to school, walk to do the shopping, walk to work and then, to relax, walk somewhere else. In a park, to a park, in the woods, along the shore, to a friend, to the cinema etc. etc. Yes a lot of people drive too, but if it's reachable on foot, that's what we opt for. Using "we" very loosely here, as we (my family) had our very first walk on our own, and on our own initiative, yesterday...

The kids have all been to this place before, with their class / kindergarten. And they're more used to walking (with said institutions...) than we, their parents. Still, as expected, I was walking briskly (as I do) trying to catch up with three of them - while hubby was strolling (as he'd love being able to do on weekdays too...) with the other two. Who hardly move at all. Not because they're tired, and not really because they stop all the time (although they do stop to observe the odd snail, mushroom or whatever), but because they walk really s l o w l y ... Well, we ended up in the same place, but walking together was impossible. At least on this, our first try.

Now the kids weren't ecstatic about it all... (Where do they get these un-Norwegian vibes??) So now we've decided we'll do it every weekend. Not to taunt them, no, listen - we're buying a thingamajig that measures the distance you walk, multiply by seven, then add up and once we're passed 50 / 100 / (any number we decide upon) kms, we're treating ourselves to a day at a waterpark or a cinema or something.

Now the kids are ecstatic. Fun, eh?

* You don't even have to walk on set paths. As long as it's public land - and there's a lot of that here - you walk wherever you want, stopping to feed wherever you want, no signs showing you were to photograph even... Here's an example of people in a restricted area...

Checklist meme

Just bold the things you have accomplished in your life.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (highest: Norway's highest, Galdhøpiggen, 2469 metres)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid (awesome!)
06. Held a tarantula (not for a million dollars...)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped (there are so many other interesting ways to die)
11. Visited Paris (twice. So far)
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (... but more often stayed up all night to watch the sun never set - up north where I grew up)
14. Seen the Northern Lights (so many advantages growing up north of the Arctic Circle!)
15. Gone to a huge sports game (England-Norway at Wembley big enough?)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (and walked through it)
19. Slept under the stars (in theory. Actually it was under the midnight sun)
20. Changed a baby's diaper (hah...)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity (I was a student, I had another student loan coming up the next term anyway...)
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment (I felt quite embarrassed, at least, having the giggling fit of the century at the altar, receiving mass - aged 13...)
27. Had a food fight (aged 20... But we were staging a kiddy party!)
28. Bet on a winning horse (I don't make bets. Ever.)
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight (loads)
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (even to my kids once, that made them shut up...)
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of the moon
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run (a what?)
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (I don't dance. My two brain halves are unconnected and arms and legs won't cooperate)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (not for a whole day)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (most of the time!)
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states (yeah. Right)
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends (absolutely! You know who you are!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales (what'd I tell you about growing up where I did?)
45. Stolen a sign (it was for a friend, who collected, honest)
46. Backpacked in Europe (Norway - Greece. England - France. Etc.)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing (small scale climbing without all the harnesses and stuff, like Claire)
49. Midnight walk on the beach (Greece - under the stars, Lofoten - in the sun)
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland (sadly, only once, but I'll be back!)
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (all the time. Never out of order)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day (several times. Most unexpected - on holiday with my cousin in Portugal. Why waste an entire day like that?)
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain (my hubby's attractive in all weather conditions)
63. Played in the mud (with and without kids!)
64. Played in the rain (as above...)
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (we haven't got them)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (my own translation agency. Employees: me)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (see # 62)
69. Toured ancient sites (Greece, Egypt, England, Ireland)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight (but blogging, that's another matter...)
72. Gotten married (fortunately!)
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (I decided to fast one week while studying in England. I was disappointed at how easy it was. Only I needed to chew something and was left chewing ice cubes day in day out...)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (I hate dressing up)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason (see # 62...)
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house (two, in fact, one at a time, though)
91. Been in a combat zone (but not while there was fighting... Ex Yugoslavia)
92. Buried one/both of your parents (touch wood!)
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (I guess my English is ok. Greek not fluent, though. Yet)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (never ending story...)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour (de Lillos, U2, Sting - though not an entire tour)
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (happens alot)
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (that would be a bit much, even for me)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane (my uncle flies a 4 seat one, I was given the stick for a couple of minutes. I was terrified...)
109. Petted a stingray (this summer, in Denmark, Kattegatcenteret)
110. Broken someone's heart (I doubt it very much)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show (don't know if the national lottery counts? The draw is on tv, at least. Didn't win a million, but a few thousand dollars..)
113. Broken a bone (my nose. Twice)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (airgun. Friend's house centuries back...)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild (but not by me)
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery (unless caeserean with quads and major infection + operations to follow is major surgery)
120. Had a snake as a pet (hah. That'd be the day!)
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (I'm sure I did when I was a student. A friend used to say if I wasn't waken up every now and then I'd sleep till I was dead...)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (but that doesn't count, I guess...)
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (they do that over here when you have quads. This from a few years back)
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (possibly. Can't prove it, though)
130. Gone back to school (I go back all the time to do more Greek classes)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey (not the entire thing)
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions so far (the one I went to was good fun)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (sometimes even now. All the summer I was living in Crete - 1994...)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair (yellow. It wasn't even the eighties...)
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

I wouldn't mind getting to check # 2, 22, 25, 61, 65, 66, 79, 99, 105, 114, 121, 124 and 134 before I go either.

Quote of the day (# umpteen) with accompaniment

Me: Time for bed, Jakob, it's getting late, the others are already asleep

J: But I'm not tired!

Me (conclusively, I felt this was a real selling point): Yes you are, look in the mirror, the white in your eyes is red!

J: That's because I'm a Liverpool supporter!!

He did, eventually, go to bed...

*****

Now, does anyone remember the Russian song in this year's Eurovision Song Contest? Dima Bilan sang "never, never let you go" with quite a bit of moaning, a compelling pronunciation of the word 'blood', and with a lot more clothes on than he appears to have if you google him... You can hear the original here, if you like.

Now, my kids - and especially Filip - love this song. (I must admit I've admitted it (hah!) into my iPod as well. It kind of grows on you...) A couple of nights ago I caught him singing along with it - you judge for yourselves if his English isn't a match for Dima's :)

(He sings very softly at the beginning, but wait for it...)

Little known facts about Norway

And I use the term "facts" loosely.
Riannan showed me the way here, and you'll have to go see for yourself. Uncyclopedia is made totally out of nonsense. It's hilarious! Make sure you don't mix it up with Wikipedia...

It did however contain a very good and uptodate post on Norway, that I would like to share with you. (I removed their links, though, so the links beneath are mine, neat and proper, in case you wanted to actually learn something...)

The People's Republic of Norway
(pronounced nowhere by Asians), one of the last Soviet states, joining the one-man club of Belarus. The fabled Slartibartfast created it around tea-time; as legend has it, he was inspired by a particularly complicated wrinkle in his tablecloth.

A member of the United Federation of Planets since its independence from Stockholm in 1953, the colony has a reputation amongst outsiders for censorship and a strong, almost fetishistic love of socks, particularly white ones. The colony has, in recent years, been at war with whales and, more infrequently, Good Christian Decency. A little known fact about these so-called Norwegians is that they reproduce asexually.

Tourist Information
There are 2 supermarkets in Norway, on account of the trees growing too thickly for anyone to be able to get their shopping trolleys to the checkout register. If you somehow manage to find one despite the odds, you should be advised that the names of the foodstuffs may be confusing. This is because bork is the Swedish spelling; Norwegians will be mortally offended at its mere whispered mention. The closest Norwegian equivalent is "bjørk" - please note that for a full and balanced diet, you need both bjørk and other bjørk, or the ever-popular daily multibjørk.

If you decide to wisit Norway be sure to bring lots of money, if you're income is less than 1.000.000$ don't bother, go somewhere else. Every year Germans invade Norway in their mobile homes, Germans are the only people that can afford to go to Norway. This is only because they bring their own place to live and their own food and therefore don't spend any money in Norway. Food in Norway is expensive, a Big-Mac menu costs 11$ and it's not even supersized. A car costs the same as the national budget of a small African country, so most Norwegians drive old underpowered cars. The roads of Norway holds a standard equal to the dirt roads in the Amazon jungle. Combined with the old shitty cars driving i Norway is a nightmare.

Gays in Norway
Norway is ruled by the gay dynasty. This is a dynasty which passes from one gay person to another every month. The gays have set for a modest reformation, which includes the rule that if you have a boring gay club in your area, you will get punished if you try to start a new one. The annual gay-tax for new clubs in 2005 is 95%. These taxes are then used to fund the old gay clubs and stop the new generation from starting clubs which favour fun before money. The gay dynasty also favours the old-church christians, just so they have someone to fight with. This is the only political group which is
allowed besides GDP (Gay Dynasty Party).

Major Cities
Hellesylt - Fluffy little town in the end of a fjord, actually the last remaining feral fjord in the world and the only fjord in Norway that has not been tamed. In the summer Hellesylt is a tourist magnet, in the winter, it's white.
Geiranger - Another fluffy little town, near Hellesylt. Often seen as a forest with a with many treehouses from a cruiseship. Its fluffiness may in fact be slightly more fluffy than Hellesylt's. But they're both pretty fluffy.

Sverige is one of the biggest cities in Norway. This is where the norwegians send all the retarded people. This city is known in other countries as Sweden.

This very last bit at least is true. Everyone knows that Sweden is full of . . . Which neatly links directly to my next, Scandinavian post... Coming up!

And still...

... Norway is the only team in the world that Brazil has never beaten. Of the 79 countries they've met in official matches.

We only managed 1-1, but I just had to mention it!

All the time in the world

Now, I sometimes feel I could do with some extra time. Don't we all? And I think I've found a way of gaining at least one hour a day. One hour per working day.

You may, or may not know, that Norway has a ban on public smoking. Following Ireland, and with Britain tailing us. I don't know the exact details of their laws, but at least here, you're not allowed to smoke indoors in any public building, like in bars, restaurants, airports, or at work. (Even if everybody working there smokes and noone ever visits...) But smoking itself isn't illegal. Yet...

I don't smoke. So, I don't need to take breaks for smoking during a work day. Hey, wait! That's not fair?!


Smoking a cigarette takes, what, 6-7 minutes? And walking up and down to street level (all these people smoking on pavements outside public buildings may really be a health hazard...), to / from the stairs / lift, getting dressed to go out in, say, 20 below freezing (-4 F), must make that at least 15 minutes altogether.

An average smoker needs a good 4 cigarettes during a work day. This is perfectly legitimate still - and leaves said smokers 1 hour to themselves. Every work day.

Surely this means I'm allowed 1 hour of blogging during an 8 hour work day?