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Showing posts from January, 2008

Tuva

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Tuva. What a pretty name for a so-called "extreme weather phenomenon" (Norway's meteorologists have a list of nice Norse names to pick from when naming storms). "Extreme weather" can mean a storm bad enough to warn people and keep you from taking that boating trip, but no hurricane. Where I live, it'll just be another case of bad weather. Same old, same old. The full force of the storm is headed for the southern tip of Norway. The wind's been pretty high here all morning, but now it's eased up. The sort of weather that makes it extra nice to be safe and warm and indoors. They say that the extra precipitation from the storm may come as snow. That would be nice because the snow that came yesterday is already gone. Ah, wind's picking up again. Now, let's see that thunderstorm that's predicted. After all, Tuva is a female name based on Tor, the Norse god of thunder and lightning.

Slushy haiku

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Prints in snow Feet, buggy, wheels, heels Life went by

Wishing it were February 29

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...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 Lived: Cyprus. How You Died: Killed in Battle. Who Were You In a Past Life? Sort of begs the question of how a blind priest gets killed in battle. "What's all that racket out there? Ow! That hurt! Ooh, I don't feel so good. Huh. NOW I can see, and all I see is a bright, white light." Which reminds me: One of our TV-stations has started showing "Dead Like Me" from the start. I have found something else to watch besides the various incarnations of C.S.I.

Home alone, again

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Don't quite know what hit me. It's just a little bit of fever, ever so slight, but enough to get my attention. It's just a little bit of queasiness, ever so slight, but enough to get my attention. It's just a little bit of not feeling quite myself, ever so slight, but enough to get my attention. And then lose that attention. I ended up leaving work early. Did last until 1 pm-ish, but that was it. So I'm feeling well enough to surf, and be a bit bored, but not well enough to start in on any major computer projects (which I would like to do). I think I need to make a big pot of tea and just rest. Here's what I look like according to my iMac's Photo Booth: Yes, I wear glasses - for computer work. These have a very pretty magenta frame and I got them for my birthday in December, to use at home. My work pair have a plain silver frame - totally uninteresting-looking. One of these days, I'll introduce you to the art on my walls.

Glowing planets

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I watch "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and during the opening credits, this bizarre if-Saturn-were-hot-lava planet shows up, both confounding me and fascinating me: I was wondering if a planet can really look like that (I still am), when I came across this APOD image of Saturn, photographed in infrared:

The definition of "local"

Paula has noted that widgets suck at local geography . I told her that at least she's within driving distance of her supposed geographical location. There are widgets that insist I am posting from Oslo's old airport, Fornebu. Now, I know my ISP (Norway's largest because that's the way we did things back in the 90's when I first got a modem) moved in and set up shop and probably umpteen thousand servers in Fornebu, so getting a ping from that address is understandable, but I'm not in Oslo! I'm not anywhere near it! Although Oslo is technically within driving distance of Bergen (if you have 8-9 hours to spare and the road's open), it is not close . There's an entire mountain range, a fjord, and a buttload of farms between us, as well as contrasting and non-comparable weather conditions. Heck, even our accents don't match! Those folks over there in Oslo don't even talk right: They roll their R's and use a sing-song accent and mash r into s

Bloggie Awards

(This is the sort of activity that goes good with a cup of coffee.) It's the annual Bloggie Awards . I'm not nominated. I happen to know a nominee and so, while voting for her, I have decided to vote in all the categories. I am now checking all the nominees in all the categories, making new acquaintances and evaluations using the "I'll read the uppermost post and if I like it and the layout, and said first post isn't just about being nominated and fishing for votes, I'll vote for it." (And in case you want to vote, too, voting ends January 31). Since I'm sure I don't have the power to sway millions (just the handful I know of), I shall now happily tell you which blogs I voted for and why: best web application for weblogs - I have no clue about such things, so I voted for what I use: Blogger. best australian or new zealand weblog - Tokyo Girl Down Under . I liked the layout and what's not to be fascinated by when the first thing that t

Sick day

(UPDATED) Not sure what hit me, but I do know that some kind of 24-hour stomach bug is making the rounds. I didn't sleep well last night, and at one point, my stomach was acting up, so I got up and drank a glass of water with some apple cider vinegar in it. That helped. I went to work this morning, but after about an hour, I could feel that whatever was bugging (heh) my stomach wasn't digestive. So home I went. Norway has put some lovely labor benefits into law, including paid vacation and paid sick-leave. Up until last year, the sick leave was organized as 4 periods of up to 3 days each per year allowed without a doctor's notice - which has always annoyed me, because there you are, on day 3, not feeling a hair better and that means having to drag your sick ass out of bed to go see a doctor, not for a cure, just for a slip of paper. The real reason that annoys me is that my doctor's office stopped receiving "drop-in" patients in the afternoon. Now they w

1-2-3-4-5 meme

I've been tagged by Sassy Spark for this meme . So here goes: Name one thing you do every day. Beyond the necessities of eating, brushing teeth, peeing, nothing. I'm not that regular. Oh, wait: There is a new one for 2008: Daily blogging! See the Blog365 in the sidebar? Name two things you wish you could learn. Javascript. I look at it and it reminds me of computer programming, which, when tried to learn it way back when, I found too difficult because I lack the ability to structure things logically. Now I find myself wanting to learn javascript and that's sort of programming and structuring things logically. Physics. Reading a book like "The God Theory" and watching a movie like "What the Bleep Do We Know?" makes me wish I knew more hard science, that I understood such things better. Name three things that remind you of your childhood. TOY chewing gum. TOY is a Norwegian brand of chewing gum and the first one I encountered when I first cam

OK, so it's not global warming

My post yesterday may make it look like I'm saying, "Oh, no! Everything's wrong because the world's all heating up and stuff!!!" I'm not. I have noticed that our winters have been getting progressively milder - since the 1970's, with a bit more escalation after we entered the 21st century - but flies in January outdoors , well, that's a new one. But I don't actually know why that fly is alive and well and on my window in January. Maybe houseflies have always done that, and I just never noticed because they chose the office on the other side of the quad, or the office two windows down or maybe they preferred the south windows of the third floor. Or, maybe the flies have a union that managed to lobby for some really cool, er, warm changes. Yes, that's it. I look around me, and everything is set up to support a frigid fly. Modern affluence and heating has gotten to the point that a regular housefly, should it find itself out of doors in the midd

Global warming?

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There was a time when, when fall came, everything died off or went into hibernation, and for about a half year, nothing grew or bloomed or buzzed or flitted. However, as those older and wiser like to remind us, nothing ever stays the same. I'm sure they aren't referring to global warming, but how else do you explain a live housefly sitting on the outside of my office window, cozy underneath the outside blind - at 60 degrees north latitude on January F-ing twenty-first ?!?

Photo meme

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About a month ago, Paula did this meme , and now it's my turn. The rules are: 1) For each question, type the answer into Google search. (I use Google image search, safe mode "off".) 2) Post a picture from the first results page. Age at next birthday A place I'd like to travel (according to some Americans, this is Korea or maybe Iraq) My favorite place (high desert) My favorite object (duh!) My favorite food (spaghetti!!!) My favorite animal (cat, not human!) My favorite color (periwinkle blue) Town where I was born (Long Beach, CA) Town where I live (Bergen, Norway) Name of a past pet (Sammy, which gives me Sammy Winward, soap star) First name of a past love (huh, he has an entire Swedish town named after him; he is also my boss's namesake) Best friend's nickname (none of my friends have nicknames) My screen name (back in the days of irc, it was FoxWoman; kafox just gives me Stephen's (!) photo from sewinggossip.com

Creative computing

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The newest OS for Mac, called Leopard, uses the album cover flipping display in iTunes (known as "Cover Flow") to show regular files on the 'puter. It's basically a peak peek inside the file rather than at its icon. As I was browsing files the other day, Leopard accidentally produced a work of art.

Are banjos edible?

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I've spent the afternoon futzing around with astrology programs because the one I had doesn't work on my new Mac. That, however, didn't give me anything to write about. Luckily a friend of mine (he's an animal! I mean, he's Animal) inspired me to do this: What Muppet are you? You are Kermit the Frog. You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you have a habit of waving your arms about maniacally. FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS: "Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and "Sheesh!" FAVORITE MOVIE: "How Green Was My Mother" LAST BOOK READ: "Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the Internet" HOBBIES: Sitting in the swamp playing banjo. QUOTE: "Hmm, my banjo is wet." Take this quiz ! The above is what I get when I answer absolutely truthfully and honestly and without a single lie. When I decided to be true to myself, I get this: What Muppet are you? You are Rizzo the Rat. You have few friends, but are loyal to th

Five things laying around my computer

Couldn't leave you, dear reader, with just a "one-liner" today, so Imagination Prompt to the rescue, asking me to name five things lying around my computer: Big box of Kleenex. My nose tends to run. Don't know why. I have no allergies and I'm not sick. Mirror. I turned my desk 90 degrees when I got my new iMac , so I no longer can see the TV when I'm facing my computer. The mirror lets me see the TV, anyway. Totally useless when watching "Heroes" and Hiro speaks Japanese and there's Swedish sub-titles (I watch the series on a Swedish channel). Can't read mirrored. Magnifying glass. It belongs in the desk drawer, but hasn't made it back in there yet. I was using it to look for a tiny reset button in my old iMac. Vaseline. Darned best lip moisturizer there is. Also helpful when trying to screw a lightbulb into a somewhat unwilling socket. Note: 5 molecules' worth will do. A CD that is a 58 minute introduction into Taoism, now l

Client comment

I had a client today who came to me in a near-panic, exclaiming, "I need professional help!" At times like that, I am grateful I do know how to shut up. ;-)

Stargazing by touch

On this planet we have deaf drummers and composers. Our planet may now be fostering blind astronomers. Via Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Blog, I have learned of a woman who had a marvelous idea : Making astronomy books you can touch so the seeing impaired, too, can discover what's up in the sky. Head over to the BABlog to watch a clip of Noreen Grice explaining her brilliant idea, or watch it and read the press release at the Hubble site . It impressed me to hear how Grice solved a problem, and it touched me to hear what it inspired in her readers. With technology, not even the sky is the limit. For anyone.

Wars no longer economically useful

I claim that wars are no longer economically useful. It has been said numerous times that entering World War II was what brought the US out of its depression. Sending surplus workers overseas as soldiers coupled with an increase in the production of war materials (everything from uniforms to battle ships) made unemployment virtually disappear. My grandma always said that as long as nations depended upon the military with its arms production and sales, we would never be free of war as an economic factor. There's something else, too: The innovation that comes out of necessity. The Wall Street Journal's "The Informed Reader" has read historian Victor Davis Hanson who states that the war in Iraq is not contributing to peacetime technology like earlier wars have. The war in Iraq isn't fought like earlier wars, either, with so many civilian contractors doing what the military used to do for itself (the current ratio is nearly 1:1, according to the Washington Post

90 years old and still going strong

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It is fitting that a funicular that climbs a very steep hill up to a mountain with a spectacular view is a Capricorn. It is also fitting for a Capricorn that the company that runs it, is the only transportation company in Bergen (if not Norway) that has no debt and wants to expand its business with caution. I'm talking about Bergen's most popular tourist attraction, the funicular up to Mt. Floien, Fløibanen . In spite of embargoes during World War I, two teak carriages and the cable for them did finally make it to Bergen and the work started first proposed in 1895 was completed, letting the funicular make its first regular trip up the mountain on January 15, 1918. In its first year of operation, Fløibanen carried 500,000 passengers to and from skiing and hiking trails - and that gorgeous view. Last year it carried 1.2 million people, including local commuters, and the funicular's owners are looking to increase that number. The current carriages are painted metal with la

The fun part of having a new computer

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I surfed a page at Apple's web site today. I was checking out the latest "Get a Mac" ad. When the ad finished, it displayed a picture of an iMac. And I got all giddy and happy, because it is just so cool to see your own brand new glory of a computer pictured elsewhere!

Forgiving

Many other bloggers have written about forgiveness. There are whole web sites, books and even religious doctrines devoted to the concept, so I won't go into great detail here. In Christianity, we are asked to forgive those who trespass against us, as we are forgiven our own trespasses (as the Lord's prayer more or less puts it). That is basically asking us to live and let live. Forgiveness as a way to move on from a bad situation seems to me to be something that has occurred fairly recently. The parents of a murder victim forgiving a murderer, for example, I believe is a fairly new development in our western societies, new as in just a couple of decades old. Those who have written about forgiveness, who have discussed it and taught it and promoted it and done it, say it is not about forgetting or ignoring the harm another has done you, but about not letting it create (any more) bad feelings in you. Forgiveness is really about no longer picking the scab off a wound, but just lea

Five things in my refrigerator

The Creativity Portal suggested I tell you of five things in my refrigerator. Don't say I didn't warn you. Rice milk. I was drinking soy milk for a while until it decided to conflict with the hormonal changes of perimenopause. I then switched to cow's milk and now to rice milk. I can't actually remember why that last switch. Maybe it'll come to me and I'll blog about it. Nail polish. I was told that nail polish stays runny longer if you keep it refrigerated. So there's a nice collection in there, mainly because I no longer bother with colored polish. Will I ever wear that dark red again? Etheric oils. I have a whole bunch of little bottles of various scents in a small blue bowl sitting in the fridge. I figured they would keep longer there. My favorite is geranium. A bottle of gin with exactly enough left for one-and-a-half drink. Which is why it never gets used up and has sat there since the 1990's. I'm not sure why it's in the fridge. I t

Clumping

In my previous post , I mentioned the antithesis to British queueing: The Norwegian clumping. Norwegians never form a line unless forced to, like at the ATM because they finally got the message about security, or at the grocery store because of the shopping carts. In every other aspect of life, a pedestrian Norwegian will clump. Amazingly, one nevertheless gets served in order. Here's how it works: Let's say we are in a shop that has a 6 foot counter with a cash register at one end; we'll say the right end. The shop is busy. There is a customer at the cash register (let's call her A), three customers to that person's left, one person behind the customer at the register, and another customer to the left of that person. Sort of like this: --------CR- x x x A x x Who's next in line to be served? And where should we, the newly arrived, stand to be the last in line? Let's tackle the first question first: Very likely, the order of customers

Hello, Dolly

It was a slow evening at my local McDonald's when I dropped by on my way home. I walked in on four customers loitering in the middle of the floor and when one of the girls said "Next!", I discovered I was the next. People back away from the counter while waiting for their food, you see, which is why everyone looked like they were possibly waiting for an available cash register. I guess I need to explain the phenomenon that is Norwegian queueing: There isn't any. Norwegians clump around a cash register the way flies clump on a lump of feces. I can remember hating that habit when I visited the bank back in the day. Yes, they'd clump around you at the teller window. At the doctor's window and the ATM, they at least stand back about a meter. The only time I see an actual line is at the grocery store, simply because it's hard to clump with shopping carts. So, at McDonald's, people will order at the counter, then move aside or away from it to make room f

The seismic brain

This little report rather fascinated me. Apparently, an epileptic seizure in the brain has "tremors" and "seismic" activity similar to the earth's earthquake activity.

What shook loose in a brain-wracking

I don't think I have a boring life, but I have little to report because I'm not the sort of person who has some sort of activity to do every single day. Well, I do, like writing a daily blog post, but I guess nothing I consider interesting enough to write about. I doubt you want a daily list of "Got up, went to work, had salad with beans, went home, had dinner without beans, wrote this, went to bed." One lunch buddy I hadn't seen since before Christmas asked me if there was anything new to report in the new year, and I said no. I said that wasn't as bad as it sounds, because I am healthy and happy and I wouldn't want that to change. I did lie a little. Right now, the biggest challenge in my life is a - hemorrhoid. And to tackle that, I am trying EFT . I am struggling to find the right "trigger phrase" and after trying about a half dozen, I think I'll settle for the short and sweet "Letting go, letting God". Has the EFT helped an

Political choices

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I started to get carried away replying to my own blog comments , so I had to make a decision and a link loop. I must be under the influence of: Translation: SV = Socialist Left Høyre = Right (anything but left) Ap = Labor (left-winged, but not always progressive, as you can see) KrF = Christian People's Party (and of course "go forth and multiply"-friendly) RV is the party now called Red (see the beforementioned comments) and that sign makes them self-explanatory FrP (Progressive Party) wants "Do Not Enter" at all of Norway's borders. Of course, the other interpretation of the sign - "Wrong Way In" rather describes all the other politics of the party Venstre = Left and maybe the other way, no back, er, up… Wait, where were we? Are we still running for office? And finally, Senterpartiet = Center Party, the favorite of farmers and people who don't like commies, capitalists or consumers - unless they're buying the farmers' prod

Around and about dipthongs

"Does English have dipthongs?" "As in two vowels together making a single sound? Sure. Take the 'ou' in 'around' or 'about', for example. Another dipthong would be 'ea', which is pronounced… is pronounced… uhm, like 'ea' as in 'bear' or like 'ea' as in 'feat' or like 'ea' as in 'great'." The concept is far easier in Norwegian. Trust me on this.

Circly, not cactusy

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Your Personality Profile You are happy, driven, and status conscious. You want everyone to know how successful you are. Very logical, you see life as a game of strategy. A bit of a loner, you prefer to depend on yourself. You always keep your cool and your composure. You are a born leader and business person. The World's Shortest Personality Test I was drawn to the other picture that had the same color scheme. In fact, equally drawn. The one above was the first I saw and liked, but I did stop at this, and had to try to make a decision: Your Personality Profile You are funky, outdoorsy, and down to earth. While you may not be a total hippie... You're definitely one of the most free spirited people around. You are very impulsive - every day is a new adventure. However, you do put some thought behind all your actions. Still, you do tend to shock and offend people from time to time! The World's Shortest Personality Test OK, this is kind of freaky. The introduction to

The Perfumery

My skin was a huge issue for me, growing up. I got my first blackheads at the age of 8. I was the only kid in school in Norway to have blackheads way before everybody else. In fact, I left Norway at age 15, and so never saw any of my classmates with acne. It bothered me to have large-pored, oily skin in a country of smooth, normal skin, so I began my road to hell with Clearasil, and like any drug-addict looking for a bigger and better fix, finished up at a dermatologist's and was introduced to the facial Threesome From Hell so many women are told is the only way to have good skin: Cleanser, Tonic, Moisturizer. The sort of products that are available at the cosmetic counters of your better department stores for an entire week's wage. In Norway, when I was a kid, we didn't have cosmetic counters. Norway, instead, offered (and offers) the "Perfumery" ("perfymeri"). These "perfumeries" sell the expensive stuff: $20 nylons, $50 lipsticks, $100 c

The girl in the bubble

I live in a very safe place, I've come to realize this weekend. I know that the weather bureau warned us of very strong winds, and a full storm at sea, but I haven't actually noticed any storm. I have spent my weekend so far, immersed in my new toy , enjoying the high speed as I surf the net and check out online newspapers... ...And learn that three oil rigs in the North Sea have sent everyone home this weekend because of the storm and wave height. Three. It is so rare that those oil rigs stop production at all, that to hear that three are stopping due to weather makes me take notice (as you've noticed). Now, I have heard on the radio that a number of mountain passes have been closed several days this week (and I was amused at how the newspapers in Bergen phrased it: "Eastern Norway isolated due to blizzards!"). I have noted that four of seven mountain passes have been closed at any given time. That's a lot, too. (Quick geography lesson: Norway is wider a

Whoops! Learned something!

I read the Bad Astronomy blog, mainly because it's fun to know the correct thing about something. Like the fact that our planet (Earth, in case you were wondering) is not the only planet to experience solar eclipses. Saturn does, too, by virtue of being so far away, that its moons appear bigger than the sun. So I trip over this clock today at BAB, and it fascinates me. I vaguely remember having some fun with math back in my school days, and the number 9 has some interesting properties. The clock shown on BAB displays (!) quite a few. Now, this had the advantage of making me try out some software on my new iMac. I bought iWork and fired up its spreadsheet so I could play with the formulas and see how they resulted in the whole numbers a clock face usually has. And, in so doing, I finally learned what ! means in mathematical notation .

Christmas Eve all over again!

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"Hi, do you know what day this is? It's Christmas Eve!" the voice on the phone said to me this afternoon. It took me a heartbeat, then I realized what he meant[1]: My new Intel iMac had arrived! So instead of getting the grocery shopping done, I met with my Mac salesman at my office, to sign papers and photocopy ID, and then he also drove my new toy/joy home for me. What service! Part of the fun of a new Mac is opening the very clean and non-cluttered box and just pulling out the machine and parking it on the desk. Part of the fun is that absolutely giddy joy from having a brand-new iMac to unpack and put on the desk. The downside is the sad farewell I have to say to my gorgeous and faithful old iMac. I wonder if I can part with it? It is so cute, y'know? I ordered the 24" screen. I was rather surprised at how huge 24" is. I mean, I felt like I'd bought one of those big flat-screen TVs. Well, actually, I have, if I get a TV tuner. :-) It makes

How Norway creates a worry

OK, that title sounds worse than it is, and also sounds more serious than it is. I guess the real worry is that the arctic region so far this winter is warmer than southern Norway, and also so dry that a grass fire broke out (that's a first!), but that's not the subject of this post. The subject of this post is a phenomenon many other Europeans are familiar with: The TV license. And the worry of not getting it paid on time. Since 1949, Norway's government owned-and-operated broadcaster, NRK, has charged its listeners and viewers a so-called broadcasting fee. The current TV license costs over NOK 2000 a year. Every year, Norwegians gripe about the TV license. It funds NRK, which now offers three TV channels (but until the early 80's, was a sole channel on Norwegian TV), while the other current 50 whatnot channels are commercial and/or cable. "I never watch NRK," the usual complaint goes, "so why do I have to pay for it? I already pay for cable." But

Conversations you don't want to have

I was standing at our row of mailboxes, when the adult son of my upstairs neighbor came flying down the stairs in our apartment building and breathlessly asked me if I'd seen his mom, grandmother of four. The family had been looking for her and calling her cell phone since yesterday. I had seen her yesterday, yes, I believe it was yesterday. I only noticed that it happened, not really when. And how was she? She was walking up the hill, I said, and I noticed her because she stopped to look up at our building and she looked rather puzzled. Yes, that makes sense, her son said, but wouldn't tell me why. They had called the police. I wished him success in finding her (and according to the horary chart for the moment, they will). He then asked when I had seen her yesterday. What time? In the afternoon. There was still daylight. Not yet dusk, I told him. And he dashed out. I feel awful for him. …Funny what you notice about people without noticing. Like a Sunday wal

A letter to myself December 31 2007

I wrote myself a letter on New Year's Eve, as part of a ritual I have. Here is the letter, with the most personal details removed:   This year I am spending New Year's away from home with friends. Though I would have liked to, I have looked forward to being alone, at home, and to revisit my earlier ritual of looking back on the year that has passed and making affirmations for the year to come. I feel hopeful and content right now. Some boys are outside shooting some fireworks (under-aged and without adult supervision, but I find myself worried for their safety rather than annoyed at the irresponsibility of the situation; and no, I don't feel called upon to tell on them or ask them to stop). Some subtle, yet momentous things happened in 2007: The summer vacation I spent with my mother , the following autumn of restlessness and generally blah feeling, and some incredible constipation, which started on the cruise ship, let up for a bit, then came back full force. And I

A new day, a new year

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I woke up to the alarm clock set for 9 something. 9:30, that's it. I closed the window, turned on all the heaters (yep, real Norwegian habit, that), and wandered out from my bedroom. From the kitchen window, while I made coffee, I looked out on an absolutely quiet world - no sound of traffic or neighbors or wind. Still. Silent. It was such a peaceful start to both day and year, and it reminded me of summer vacation. In my living room, I was drawn to the soft light outside. There was frost on the ground, some left-overs from the fireworks last night (my neighbors gave me quite the free show last night with some gorgeous displays I hadn't seen before), and a rosy glow in the west, peaking through the trees lining the ridge. The apartment building to the left and that ridge are the reason why I don't get sunshine in my apartment for about 3 months. By the time the winter sun has cleared the building, it is so low it can't clear the ridge. I have my own little version of