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.

Busybusy

Keeping a website, a full-time job, part-time studies, long-distance relationship (although that's the easiest part - only 7 days every 2 months ...) and practicing Spanish, rock climbing, webdesign and all that sorta takes time. It takes so much time that after work all I wanna do is watch a movie. And I must admit that's what I've been doing the past week. But soon I will get going again and spend a little time on the above mentioned stuff.

As you can see from the pic of my hand here I (hardly) ever miss the chance to have a few beers with my friends at CouchSurfing. Great time as always! And one beer too many as always had me eating like a hobbit yesterday ... three breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners. Plus cake, fruit and so on.

In just 9 days the BF and I are going to Scotland. Will be great to see him again and have a few days off (although I definitely will bring some books just so I can say I did).

Won't be a long post, this one, just trying to create some routines. Yaaay blog. Other people's blogs are so much ... more of everything, I'm just typing something before going to bed (before 10 pm, mind you) and know no one will read it except for you two guys ;-) But I'm sure it will be good for something.

'night!

A Norwegian NEVER

... boasts, gloats, brags, shows off, makes him/herself look better than others, underlines his/her good sides, tells others about his/her deeds (and certainly does not praise them), blows his own trumpet, nor does he/she exercise any form of self-praise. But today I will do just that.

CHECK OUT MY WEB SITE! IT LOOKS GREAT, AND I AM REALLY PROUD OF IT!

www.OsloForBeginners.com

Hard work, long nights, technical challenges and nowhere to buy chocolate in the middle of the night ... name the peril, and I'll say been there, done that and already worn the t-shirt twice. Expect me to talk about nothing else for the next couple of weeks.

But now, dear readers (both of you ...) it is up to us to do the marketing. I need traffic! Publicity! Champagne! And a holiday.

Short entry, great web site. See ya!!

K.

Back to work ...

Just one week of holiday is not enough. But it was

a great holiday! Although the BF had grown a beard á la Taliban and we drove nearly all the time (on the very narrow and curvy roads of Ireland), it was great having a little time together. As we love travelling, there was always something to see or do. Ireland is great, nature and history and cool folk music. The people are nice too. I will definitely come back for another glimpse of this beautiful castle in Tullamore!

Now that my websites are coming on (ok, still not online, but hey, I've started ...) and I got my business running, my mom thinks it a good time to really change her mind about anything and everything several times a day. We're talking about buying a house together, but I'm sure she'll change her mind several times before tomorrow. A little bit distracting!!

Looks like this entry will be a short one. Must build website and eat smelly cheese. Former flatmate Gine is visiting, but runs off because I just tempted her with liquorice. Bye bye!

K.

Summer's over, let's go on holiday

The summer is now officially over for my part. It's really cold (wore a woolen sweater today and had the heater on at work) AND I'm coming down with a cold. Again. Good thing I'm going on holiday so I don't miss work ... The BF and I are going to Ireland for 5 days and then a few days in Arendal. Haven't seen him in 2 months, so I'm really looking forward to it!! If I only didn't have this cold!!!

I am a bit impressed with myself that I have gotten so many things done lately (see previous post about loosely planned stuff), but again, that's probably why I am getting this cold. Stress is a major trigger for diseases for me, maybe my body's trying to tell me something (like, now that you are sooo happy doing all this cool stuff, your body parts are complaining about all the extra work and decided to go on strike for a week or two). I have started building some websites and now have a nice routine and even progress with my home workouts (which will of course be set back by this darned cold), Life's mostly good and I am looking forward to all the stuff I wanna do and such. So I'll just keep warm and eat garlic (sorry about that, flatmates) and don't have any fun until I get better.

The monthly CS gathering was great as always (I even managed to go home quite early and not drink too much as it's always on Tuesdays), can't help smiling at myself because I'm amazed things really can be this simple and people can be so nice! I actually feel younger (this guy thought I was 23, hahahahaa) and a whole lot more idealistic, this is such a great initiative. Too bad I don't live by myself, cause the flatmates prefer not to have that many surfers (and I don't blame them, really), so I have to limit the number of visitors. But I'll just pick the really cool ones then.

K.

So many ideas, so little time (and skill)

Although I have CouchSurfers coming in and out the door like it were Christmas, I still find the time to do some daydreaming, workouts, Spanish, HTML and even work. I like to do several things at once, like standing on the balance board while doing arm excercises and practicing Spanish. Or fall asleep while reading HTML. Wasn't part of my plan, but it worked. I am really looking forward to the day when I am a little bored again. But the surfers are of course great fun and very interesting people, only I sort of double/triple booked a few of them these past days. Four people in the living room is a little much at times, but it's nice to help out some fellow CSers in need.

I am (at least I thought I was) having quite a few creative thoughts on websites I want to create, but it seems each idea has been taken from me at some early stage and already developed when I start doing some research on the web. I think someone has a secret access to my brain and suck out the good ideas like a really good Strawberry Daquiri before it gets all mooshy and watery (Astrid, when are you going to make me one??). Or maybe I just heard of these things and stored them in my subconsciousness until I nearly forgot all about them and took them for my own. Ah well.

All these travellers make me want to go away right now, and the weather (yes, I must mention it like everybody else) makes me yearn for white beaches and tall palm trees and SILENCE. Despite the bad weather we have to keep the windows open (that is, we got scaffolding all around now, so we'd better close them now before we wake up with a climbing burglar stumbling over all the surfers sleeping on the floor) and the goddamn tram is really loud. I usually say I've gotten used to the noise, but I guess I haven't. I was up in the mountains nearly 6 months ago with some colleagues and was really surprised to hear the silence up there (only interrupted by the "wow, can you believe this silence?"s) ... Strange thing, really, that I get ANY work done with the traffic roar in the background or the stupid fan in my computer or the AC at work. In addition, one million and three thoughts are buzzing around in my head (as I am a woman and multi tasking-capable). But I guess once I do make it to a white beach (hopefully Thailand in March) I am sure I will be bored or too hot or eaten by mosquitos and disturbed by people wanting to sell me stuff on the beach. But right now it's very nice to dream about it.

K.

Civilization at last!

For nearly three weeks now I have been a catsitter at my mother's about 45 minutes out of town. My mother does not have a TV. Nor does she have a computer. No microwave oven, no teflon pan (it's dangerous, you know!). My cooking is bad enough when I don't have to burn it in a really heavy, but yet just a little too small iron frying pan. Which I of course did. And the rest of the time I was bored shitless. But I did get to learn a bit of Spanish and HTML (!) and do those other things you just don't tend to when you are drowning in entertainment. In my flat I have a TV and DVD player, computer and Internet, PS2, wii, people to talk to (although the cats did make a lot of sound ...), things to see and people to do ... and tomorrow I'll be back, yaaay! The first thing I'll do iiiiiis ... go out and party with some friends, I think.

Next week will be busy with CouchSurfers every day. But I'm really looking forward to it, these people are so cool! Makes me dream of travelling all over the world ... With this terrible rain season we've been having, I'd like to go somewhere sunny, like Spain or something. Maybe I'll try to surf someone's couch for a few days :-D I always wanted to go to Barcelona. I bought a guide book a few years ago, I'd better go before it's outdated.

I should probably get back to the woods now, can't help but enjoying every minute I spend at home after work ... But this is the last night, and my poor old back is nearly crying for joy.

K.

My name's Kirsti, and I'm a Facebook addict

Like 250 000 other Norweggies I got addicted to Facebook this spring and must confess I have neglected my blog. It is sort of nice to have a blog, though (and it will persist when the Facebook hype is over, which I believe will happen soon), and today I even learnt I have a faithful reader, my dear colleague Superastrid.

The past few months have been sort of busy. The exams went quite well, work was really busy but now it's cooling off (like the hopeless summer weather in Oslo). On the Norwegian national holiday I sprained my ancle (it was swollen to an unrecognizable state and my foot nearly fell off) when I tripped on some french feet belonging to a couchsurfer during folk dancing. Then I got a terrible cold, which lasted well into June, when my flatmate Cornelia and I went to the music festival Rock im Park, where it rained all weekend and of course made the cold even worse. Then I was one week in Arendal and got two wonderful boat trips before the rain set in, I went on a business trip to Germany, the BF took off to Afghanistan, my mom went interrailing (!) and I'm stuck with her cats. I love the cats, but the commuting is really a pain. 1,5 hours a day. Next week the trains aren't going either. Yay.

I have also started to learn Spanish this summer. It's great fun, and I hope I will get to practise some when I get a little better. Hablais Español, anyone?

The climbing wall is finally in place, but I have to get some new climbing shoes before I really get started again.

What else is new? Hmm ... not much. Everyone's on great holidays, and I'm at home, working. But the BF and I are going to Dublin in September. And I'm still saving up for my next adventure.

Hasta luego!

K.

Winter, disease and exams - the horror!

This is nice, Easter holiday by the fireplace, blankets and good food (pizza and chocolate ...), outside it's snowing. NO, it's not good. It's April 8th and still snow and cold. I've had enough winter for now. The BF is half unconscious (snoring!) with a retina infection, and I must study, because my exams are only 4 weeks from now. Not much of a holiday, but I suppose the next one will be better. Oh, that's right, I just remembered it's not until SEPTEMBER. Or October. The BF is heading for Afghanistan in July, so there will probably be nothing before that. And our holiday in September/October will probably be the only time I see him the last 6 months of this year. Ah well.

We haven't been able to do any work on the boat yet either, but at least I got to see it. Looks good, with a little work it will be great!

Tomorrow we're driving me home and checking out the BF's new nephew. He'll be like the 4th baby I see this year, I don't think I've seen so many babies before in my life. I must be getting old (or at least my friends and relatives are). My mother hardly knows the names of my friends, but when she hears they are getting children, she asks about their well-being every time we speak. She also made sure to list grandchildren among the enviable stuff all her friends have (a beautiful home, apartment in Spain and GRANDCHILDREN, she said). I thought this kind of longing for proof your genes will move on was a stereotypical behavior only existing on TV, but no, my mother's got it too. Darned hormones.

Off to study and then have dinner with the in-laws. They almost treat me like one of their grandchildren, so I still feel young!!

K.

Near death experience and my very first half a boat

There I was, strolling happily along on my way to a free pizza and money giveaway meeting with a marketing company, when a goddamn crazy bicyclist passed and took the end of my scarf with her. She nearly tore my head off, and and and ... well, she stopped fairly quickly, but I was pissed off and my heart was racing. Stupid bicyclists riding on the pavement. I would never do that. In other cities you get fined for this. But in this darned labour party social democracy country you may do everything. Gaaaaah!

But I got my pizza and soda and money and some chocolate, so I soon forgot the perils of the day. Later that evening I convinced the BF we should buy a boat together, so I am now the proud owner of half a boat from 1963. Yay!!

K.

I love spring toooooo

I shouldn't have read Gine's blog post on spring, cause now I wanna write the same arty farty stuff. Some Austin Powers quotes should do it then: I love spriiiing! The taste of it, the schmell of it, the texxxture! My birthday is also in spring, and my summer expectations rise with the new spring flowers. This summer will of course be just as dull as the last one, with 35 degrees in the office every weekday and rain every weekend. I also fear that the threat of global warming will spoil my good summer mood.

My brother and I are thinking of doing the Besseggen walk this summer, looks great. One should also check out the Norwegian glaciers before they all melt down. And see a rhino in the wild before they become extinct. But flying is apparently one of the worst things you can do to the environment, so it's really a selfish thing to do. But I still do it, I'm afraid.

Better do some studying now. That is my plan for Easter as well :-( Think of me when you sit in the sun eating oranges!!

K.

Baaaah

Baah, I am a sheep. Now that everyone seems to have their blogs at Blogger.com (and they won the test in the Norwegian newspaper VG), I'd better follow. So this is my new home. Yay. I'll se if I can fit my blog posts from myspace here as well, so I got it all in one place, and then I must notify the hundreds of people that rely on my blog for their daily updates ... Work, work, work ... Really, I should admit that I sort of hoped moving to Blogger.com would make more people read my blog, but who am I kidding, right?

This is great, feels like I'm part of something bigger now. Plus, my URL is much shorter (only 1 kirsti in stead of 4).

See ya!

K.

Owwww

My weekend in London was great, apart from the fact that the soles of my feet got terrible blisters after the first day of sightseeing. I really went all over the place, and it was so much to see! It's been 11 years since I last was in London, and at that time I really wasn't too interested in sightseeing. But now I wanted to go everywhere and see everything, and I did get to see quite a lot. Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Chinatown, St. Paul's, Museum of London, Camden Market, Soho, British Museum, the Toy museum and the Tower. I did remarkably little shopping, and went out eating and drinking with my colleagues both Friday and Saturday. On Saturday one of my collegeagues celebrated her 30th birthday with 2 other birthday girls, with a river cruise on the Thames complete with lunar eclipse and all! It was so cool. Unfortunately, I got there 1 hour late (but luckily they all waited for me) because most subways had stopped and I spent 2,5 hours to get from my hostel in South Kensington (which I didn't find as bad as the other rewiers) to the Embankment. But it was worth the hassle, I had a great time (as usual with my excellent colleagues). Now I got a cold and I'm broke, but who cares :-D

I also met yet another stupid shop assistant, so I feel like listing some of the stupidest I have met. This one was a solid 2nd place, here is my list so far:

1. Bookshop assistant in Norway not knowing what a "syvende sans" is (very common Norwegian expression and brand for a filofax pocket calendar book thingy)
2. Textile shop assistant in London not knowing what paisley pattern is
3. Clothing shop assistant in Norway not knowing what a halterneck top is
4. A colleague told me she'd met a furniture salesperson who didn't know what a trolley table was

Also chech out this pic of me on a horse! A friend and I went to try out her friend's horse, I forgot how much fun riding is!

K.

Ooops

This is what happens when unwatched eggs boil for an hour. Very funny. Later that day I tried to set the living room on fire as well with 20 candles (it was cold). I had to put them out with a casserole lid as the candles burnt with a unisone flame exceeding 0,5 metres.

Whistling update: Very unpopular to practise at home, as the flatmates seem allergic to this kind of repetitive sound. Ah well.

Climbing wall update: The wall is in da house, but the screws (huhuh) I bought were too short. So I have to wait for my BF to come back with the tools to fix it. Check out the pic of the wall as well in one of the the previous entries.

K.

Indoor climbing wall

I'm gonna get a climing wall in my room! It's so cool. Maybe I'll hang it over my bed and use the bed as a crash pad ... It's all a part of my new and better lifestyle, I plan to get in shape and improve my climbing skills. And have lots of fun and travel a lot and protect the environment and and and ...

I also got my ticket for Rock im Park today, feels good to think about summer when it's snowing outside and 12 degrees in the living room. The only goods news is that our TV reception is better when it's this cold. Strange, but true.

Like always, when I got little or nothing to do, I try to pick up a new skill. This week's project is learning to whistle really loud without putting my fingers in my mouth. I'm nearly there, and I'm sure it will help my career.

Guess I should go to bed, as I have to get to work quite early tomorrow.

K.