Geek! (said with a cough)

Finally a few days off (2) and a long weekend in Arendal. New (plastic) boat, new opportunities (the old one was unfortunately too rotten to repair ...). First thing we did was order a new wireless router, and the 3 of us now find ourselves in front of our PCs, tapping away. The weather has been bad, so there has been a lot of inndoor activities (surfing the Internet, laundry, surfing the Internet, watching DVD, did I mention surfing the Internet?), but it's been good getting a little fresh air, as we were able to take a 1 hour boat trip, which wasn't as pleasant as it could have been due to the exhaust leak in the engine. But we'll fix it in August and go then.

See also the cool keyboard I bought from dealextreme.com, a shop filled to the brim with very cheap stuff you did not know you needed. The keyboard works fine, but I suppose it will take a little time getting used to pressing the keys hard enough. Very geeky, but I couldn't resist it ... I saw one of these (it was black, though) in Die Hard 4 and just had to get one.

Now summer is here, and work is a lot more quiet, and I've been able to take some time off and do nothing, which has been just great. The final exam for my part-time study is over, and to my great surprise I actually got an A!!! This calls for a celebration. Did I hear champagne??? By the way I celebrated my birthday (and deadline and exam, same day) with my lovely colleagues and had a really great time (not so good the next day though). Last weekend I spent 3 whole days on the island Hovedøya in the Oslo fjord, drinking beer, getting a tan and swimming. I definitely recommend it!!!

K.

When temperatures exceed

18 degrees Celsius (above zero, mind you), every Norwegian is genetically programmed to cast his jacket and show off some very white (or suspiciously orange-tanned) arms and legs and smile foolishly behind huge sunglasses. Except for yours truly, who still suffers from a bad case of the peelings after the bum-arms-and-legs sunburn caught nearly 2 weeks ago. When I undress at night a cloud of Kirsti dust whiffs about the room. Lovely.

Now it seems the heat is affecting me in some way or the other (or maybe it's the jet lag), because I dropped a plate of microwaved leftovers on the floor just now (didn't want to take a picture cause it was just too stupid) ... Reminded me a little off the exploding eggs incident the last time I was jetlagged ... But it will pass, I suppose, along with the desperate longing back to white beaches and cheap Thai food. Hmmm.

A new page is up and running and has actually seen quite a lot of traffic already, so I'm very excited: www.may17oslo.com. If you have any photos, I would love to publish them together with the name of the artist :-D

Well, I have to go destroy some more food before I starve to death.

K.

A very short holiday in Thailand

Aaah, Thailand was great. But time just flew by and now I'm suffering from a back to work-depression (hard!). Exam mode hasn't really kicked in yet, I'm just playing around with my sites and hoping I will get some actual work done ...

What did we do in Thailand? Well, apart from a quick food poisoning and getting the worst sunburn EVER on my sitting utilities, it was a really cool trip, so many people live in Thailand and it's crowded everywhere you go (especially since it was the New Year water festival), 35 degrees and 95 % humidity, 30 degrees in the water and cheap food and beer (and it's important to eat salty snacks when you're sweating so much, too), colorful fish, birds and plants and the opportunity to do absolutely nothing because you're on holiday. Was good to spend some time with the BF as well, a couple of weeks before we left I realized we hadn't spent this many days together in a row in nearly two years, so I was a little worried we might get on each other's nerves, but we were OK!

Now I should get some work done. I mean now. OK, now. I'll have some dinner, and then I'll start. Right after that. Or a nap. I'll just finish this. And read this magazine. And then I'll start. Immediately.

No, I haven't forgotten my blog ...

I have just neglected it for 4 months. A quick summary: NYE was great, In january I went to do some couchsurfing in Tallinn (very shitty weather, but cool), February and March have really been just work and no play - work is ridiculously busy now and I'm going to Thailand Monday in a week (I guess most of you might have heard that already). I'm working on some new sites and have a plan to do a makeover for my Oslo site, but after Thailand it's the exam (last one!), which is on my birthday. And before that I'm going to Valencia (but I haven't really had much time to practice my Spanish) and end of May off to Deutschland for work meetings and after THAT a weekend in Paris. Then I need to rest a few weeks before I go on holiday in Arendal when the BF is back.

Right now there's a party in our flat and I'm supposed to be working, but seems the scheduled background work starts at 2200 and devours all performance. I'm really sleepy, so I should just go to bed and read a little in my Shakespeare conspiracy book, which is really cool. A little confusing, but cool.

Yeah, I'm going to bed. I'll try to only neglect the blog for a week or two this time. maybe I'll post some Thailand pictures!

'night ...

Christmas, Death and so on

These last days before Christmas have been very peaceful at home, but very stressful at work. Yesterday I had the whole day off and took a walk around the town to see the Christmas trees and the Christmas Market (looked very German to me) and finally got to take a pic of this guy, because I pass him often and have wondered who he is. And up close, it's a really creepy statue of Death. In the pic you can't really see his hollow rib cage and lipless grin, but I promise you I took my pic and walked away quickly. It got me thinking about all the people who have died this year. Quite a lot actually. My stepmother's mother, my mother's brother, my stepson's aunt and an old lady my mother and I have gone grocery shopping for these past 3 years. Some friends have lost close friends, colleagues have lost their parents. No one close to me, but still more than any year before, I think. Most of them were very old, but still. It's strange.

But now for something more joyful. Tomorrow I bring no more than 3 Couchsurfers to Christmas Eve celebration at my mother's (who has recently joined CS as well and brings a girl she met at a bus stop a couple of years ago and helped settle in Norway and so on). We plan on listening to some Christmas carols, eating a LOT (it's tradition! Just hope I don't puke this year ...) and then we're actually invited for coffee at my mother's "landlord". Will be interesting, but I'm sure it'll be nice.

NYE this year will be with Couchsurfing, we're making a huge party with over 70 guests, and the BF is also coming. Will be the best NYE ever (I say that every year).

Now I plan on working a little and/or surf the net/learn some Spanish/learn Joomla/make websites and so on.

Merry Christmas, guys!! See you next year :-D

K.