The funny thing about being foreign is that I don’t talk about being foreign. Norwegian TV came to my place of work and interviewed some of our non-Norwegian employees during lunch. They managed to find one of the noisier places in our cafeteria to do so, but also a pretty visible one. (We assume it’s […]
I have noticed that with things like Twitter and Facebook, getting something off one’s chest can be done in a few short sentences, and the immediacy and convenience (and lack of expectation of more than a paragraph) mean that more people “tweet” or post to Facebook rather than blog now. I was hunting for some […]
So somebody missed me (hi, Protege!). If it weren’t for Wordless Wednesdays, they wouldn’t know I was still alive. Well, I am, and here’s a run-down of what’s been grabbing my attention this month: Autumn got busy, as it usually does. I’ve been trying to focus on my astrology in order to forecast the weather […]
(This is an English translation of a Norwegian original.) Today I came across a well-written essay from a Swedish teenager. She was scared to death about her generation. She is worried about what will become of them. They seem to be so self-destructive. They are still embarrassed in the school locker room, while being happily […]
I dag kom jeg over et godt skrevet innlegg fra en svensk jente via Aftenposten. Den svenske jenten er livredd for sin generasjon. Hun opplever generasjonen sin som selvdestruktiv; de er sjenerte i fellesdusjen, men publiserer nakenbilder på nettet. Hun savner at foreldrene bryr seg, og henvender seg til oss som født på 60-tallet. Det […]
When I woke up this morning and heard Michael Jackson had died, my first thought was, “Now he won’t suffer any more.” I have never had the impression that he was a happy man, an impression supported by what I’ve heard about his childhood, his family, his plastic surgeries and the accusation of his molesting […]
Wordless Wednesday
Since I’m home, I’m indulging in listening to daytime radio. Radio’s always educational, and so far today I have learned that the reason for low doorways on older farms was to be able to knock an intruder on the head as he entered. Having lived in such an old farmhouse myself, I instantly thought a […]
One thing that has been is consistently popular since 1996, is the new age fair (or “alternative convention”, as it is actually called). Several major cities in Norway hold one each year, and this time of year is when Bergen’s has its fair. It is always popular. A former co-worker had a gift for sensing […]
Before I visited friends and family in the US last summer, I had read a lot about Wal-Mart and its business practices, which made me decide I never wanted to shop there. But when the toilet clogs at 11 pm, and you really have go (and it’s a no. 2), and your host has no […]
The phone rang. Caller ID showed it to be the same Oslo number that had called several times this week. For some reason, I thought it was the local newspaper, trying to sell me a subscription to its dead-tree editions because, well, my brain was AWOL this week. I answered. It was a Norwegian polling […]
…Because I really want a day off from everything, including Blogging (Blog365 let’s us have Leap Day off). I thought I’d feel better (again) by now, but no. Just to cheer myself up and give you more than one sentence to read, there’s this: In a Past Life… You Were: A Blind Priest. Where You […]
I tripped over a Norwegian trivia and puzzle site (finally, I may win money with my sudoku addiction), and discovered that I know more about pop stars than I do Sweden. Twice I got the question “Who is Sweden’s prime minister?” and twice I gave the wrong answer. So why don’t I know his (or […]
Everybody’s talking about it. Everybody. But to tell the truth, hearing about it is getting as tiring as that other piece of “news”. And when Joy of Tech does three jokes in a row about it, I’ve had enough. There is no where to turn where it’s not mentioned. Even iTunes is out in a […]
Making the rounds of some Norwegian blogs is a meme about what you remember from 1987 (a 20th anniversary). I can’t tell you anything about popular culture, fashion, top 40 hits, news items, or the year’s best movies without looking it up, because I can’t remember. I do remember 1987, though, because that was the […]
A Roll in the Universe 