EEP!

This weekend have been so long, but on so many levels so good. Claire and I finally got some us time, after quite a number of weeks were we haven't really had time to do so. This included oversleeping brunch and getting food at the CC. It was good. Very much needed.

Today I have tons of stuff to do, most important is a take home that is due at 6PM tonight that I am far from done with. And there is loads of other stuff as well

Todo today:
-Take home exam
-do math homework for tomorrow
-Mail tax things
-stuff for CS
- find job
-talk to advisor
-figure out schedule for next semester
-measure and order bones for corset
-email Ema with corset ideas

Now it is time to go get food
See you all

Torchwood

So today, no less than 3 people mentioned this show to me and told me that I need to watch it. Combined with Kelly on Saturday that make four in tree days. Maybe I should take the hint? Anyone got the first season on DVD?

Life is good, classes started, I feel good about Spec Fic, this sounds like it is going to be an interesting class. ODE and Linear Algebra sounds ok, not to die for but not too bad. I talked to Cardell who teaches Electrical Power Systems and it is ok that I take the class. It sounds fairly interesting and with it I got most of the requirements for engineering minor down (I think I might be missing one or something). Discrete Math I am not sure how to feel about. I mean, I need it and I will do it, and maybe I'll find it fun, can't remember to have done anything like it before.

I should have been in fencing now, but thanks me being stupid I have a giant blister on my foot. So I'll let my foot heal until wednesday and take it from there. I did my word count today, this was a good start on the week. 573 words, and I might do some more when I am done with this post. I feel inspired to do some fan fic. Also Sibs and I have a challenge. The funny thing is, the two characters are the characters we were cosplaying as at Vericon (which by the way was full of win as Mel put it), Casper and Komiyan from Darken. Because they are so damned easy to slash it has to be done. Also, the costume gave me an exuse to flirt with anything in a skirt. Ok so Casper is not that desperate, but it was fun to play. And someone recognised us. Weeee. I also got some nice art.

I feel good. Life has been good today, even with minor setbacks. Ah well. And I realized that I have two months to make my panels for ConBust and make all the chainmaille I intend to sell there. Anyone got ideas of stuff that might do well? I am working on a bunch of different bracelets, I might also make some anklets, and Miriam said that Japanese cubes might work as those bag jewelery everyone seems to have these days. Speaking of bags, I am hunting a Hells Belles badge to get on my bag, I got the button but I would like more. I am hunting all sorts of stuff to put on it in fact.

Long long week... I am finally taking a little break, I have been doing homework for most of the day, apart from waking up real late for lunch, but that was mainly Claire's fault. But overall day has been nice, now I am going to do some artsy stuff for a little while and then see if I can kick Sibs into more Trigun.
Went to game yesterday. Was very interesting. Adrian ended up in jail, not a big surprise there but for once he hadn't really done anything bad. They had gone into Jessica's house and after getting rid of the damned woman, checked out the basement where they found Faith's mother. And Faith's mother was in such a state that I really have realized that Kay is as good as I am about torturing NPCs. Though from what I have seen she goes a lot more physical torture than mental as I do when it is called for in a game. But yes, Adrian got her out of it, sent the other people home and then called the cops and an ambulance, and of course he got taken in for questioning. And then the painkiller high went away, and he realized he really was shot in the shoulder, and had ripped said half healed shoulder seriously. So now I am imagining him in a jail cell, you know the kind they put drunk people in, curled up in a corner muttering about pain.

Updated Todo List
Final programming project (in flash/actionscript)
Final project presentation
Final datastructure presenteatation (I am talking about disjoint sets)
Assignment 10 (graphs)
Design Lab (I am making a circuit that only lets though frequencies of 2000Hz and above) + labreport for said baby
Design Lab presentation
Lab report for chem x2
Done: Chem exam (self scheduled)
Math problemset x3
Engieneering problem set x2 (or 3)
Engineering quiz x2
Chem problem set

Chem exam
Engieneeing exam
Physics exam
Computer science exam

Register for j-term classes
Return keys
Figure out what I am giving the following people: Dad, Anna, Sister, Farmor, Cheryl, Thomas, Bunny, Danna, Claire, Sibs, Miriam,
Shop Christmas gifts (send me a wishlist people)
Mail gifts to the ones I wont see
Buy bus ticket
Repay part of the loan
Find my paycheck
Go to work
Go to game
Done: Talk to Kep about gaming space next semester
Send Christmas cards

Pack
Clean room properly

Mother of all Updates

Another nice day at a cafe, this time in Kristansand, Norway. I am sitting at Laura's, a coffee place owned by a New Yorker (I think) that I have been a patron of for the last decade or so. It is a rally nice place, the coffee a bit on the expensive side but not very and so worth it. Especially because my brother paid, hihi. I just finished the Rookie and it was amazing. I wasn't breathing for the last two episodes or so, and I can't wait for the sequel. Oddly enough it is one of those books I don't think I would've picked up in a bookstore or at a library, but since I was in a audio book limbo after Billi and Tee Morris and JC Hutchins had been pimping Scott's work I decided to give it a try. I am gland I did.

Now it is ten or so in the morning. My mom had a meeting she had to go to me and my brother joined her. I need some new underwear and stuff before going back to Smith. I am leaving the country in a week, and leaving home a day before that. Then the plan is to visit Clair until Sunday, and get back to campus, and one week of intensive physics training. When will I learn that my cockiness will destroy me? Anyway, my advisor wanted me back for a week of physics training. Will be fun, I also have talked to one of the teachers of the compsci department and he was interested in being my minor advisor, we are going to have a chat when I get back, and I have figured out what classes I need to take for my major. I have done that once already, but I think I'll do it again tomorrow when I am on my way to IKEA. Yes, I am going to the wonder that is IKEA tomorrow. And after that I have one more day f work. My employer asked me and it is an extra 450 NOK for 4 hours of work. That is about 75 USD. Have I ever mentioned that I love the high wages in this country? Well now I have.

Now I am at a different cafe, it is a bakery. My brother and I just had lunch with my mom. I am listening to 7th Son, chapter 13 and 14. It came out a few days ago, but due to my Rookie marathon I didn't get arounds to until now. It just get better and better and more and more cliffhanger like. And then it was on to music. Currently Nightwish's remake of Phantom of the Opera, live from end of an era. I also found the sixth Bone, which I have been collecting for years. Thankfully my sister did not get her hands on my Bone collection. My Sandman collection disappeared to her place, I started collecting the two about the same time, and it was I who introduced her to it. At that time she lived at our place so she and I decided that instead of both of buying all the books we would sort of share the collection. And then while I was in Flekke the collection moved with her and now she refuses that we ever shared it. And now that I want mine back since I am pissed at her about that, she just avoids the question. I think the first four were mine but since I am only sure about the first three it is only those I have asked to get back. Now my brother have agreed to just take them with him next time he is there. I know it is a small thing to be pissed about, but honestly, you don't steal from your siblings.
Now that we are on the topic of my sister; the spawn. I am oddly looking forward to the little meatball will come. Maybe because it is a small human I can influence and help shape. And best of all, it won't be my resposibility to get up late at night to feed the meatball. Really I am getting the good end of the deal here. I actually like kids when I don't have to be around them 24/7 and keeping them happy is someone else's problem. In a few years I'll be that cool aunt you only see a few times a year, but who drags you around doing cool stuffs. I will have a little GiT (geek in training) under my tutorship. I swear the little meatball will be brought to larps as soon as it's mother allows it. We think it will be a girl but we are not sure. So me and mom and I have keept all the clothing we have bought/made in neutral colors, yellow, green and browns.

And suddenly I got the urge to play Slow-mo-ball. Slow-mo-ball is a game developed in Solgløtt, it is the larper version on a game called troll/goblin ball from some computer game. There are a few simple rules. 1, the ball have to be 'alive' (we use a teddybear or stuffed fish). 2, you get 4 points to put in strength or speed, giving us three types of player characters: ent/troll (strength 3, speed 1), human/ork (2,2) and hobbit/goblin (1,3). If someone with a higher strength than you try to take the ball from you, you have to give it up. Makes sense, heh? This is another of those games where you end up with a big pile, but for some reason it is oddly peacefull. That might have something to do with that we are just a big bunch of friends doing it together.

I brought a new notebook. I don't know how long this one is going to last, I have had it for 14 months, mostly it just contains blogposts, but also rpg stuff and story plots that I have come up with when I diodn't have a computer with me. It also holds the original goals in life list, which I guess I should update soon. I'll start the revised version of Time, there is 26 pages laft but this post have taken 7 so far and I have no clue how long Time is going to be. As I ahve said I have the plot already, but teh thing about this plot is that it can either take forever or no time at all. The story is set to only take about 5 minutes of story time, but the last time I wrote this story I filled 8 A4 pages. And I was writing under time pressure, I don't remember how long it was but I think I spent one and a half to two hours on it. I really should try to find my old school essays, yes, Time was a mid year exam piece of work. I had fun with them and I actually do like working under time pressure. That is one of the reasons I want to do NaNoWriMo, but the problem is coming up with an idea that will interest me enough to write 50 k words. I have problems getting plast 4000-5000 words. Which in itself is pretty odd because I am covinced I have done close to 50 k words on material related to the Seattle Shadowrun campaign and probably half that on the Hong Kong campaign. And that is without even thinking about it. I think it has to do with that my creativity seems to feed off other's. It is completely different telling a story when you get input and new direction from others. Take the Hong Kong campaign for example. I am the GM and because we are only doing background and a spin off there is only one player and two PCs. The rest of the crowd is all mine. So far we have 12 fully characterised good NPCs and 5 bad guys + 7 of their goons all fleshed out. And the scene is set for a ton more should I need more. I am currently working on fleshing out one more NPC because the player wants to run scenes with this guy. That is a good character crowd for any novel. Why can't I do the same for my writing? Maybe it is because I love to make this shit up to throw at my vict..players. I also love doing research for my games. Only for the HK game I have looked up drifting, the megacorps, HK maps, common cantonese words, an amazing numer of chinese names, stuff about Shaolin and probably tons of other stuff I don't remember right now. I really do love fleshing out my world with random facts. Like one of my characters in named Tsuchiya, the character is a racing car driver, now I dare you to look that name up. And remember that this is set 63 years in teh future.

I'm at work, last day of the year. There was supposed to be a thing today but the rain stopped it. Might be just as well, I am not too fond of religious gatherings, which was what it was supposed to be. I don't mind people going to to them, it is going to them myself I mind.
Yesterday the family went to IKEA. I got what I need and more than that. I started listening to Infection by Scott Sigler on the way there. I like this book as well, don't know why, but Sigler's story telling fits me. I think I'll relisten to the Rookie on the way to Smith. Hopefully I'll get the football better since it is my second time hearing it. And now there is a car of Danes coming. Wonder if they'll come inside. They'll be the first guests of the day and possibly the last of the season.
But no. They drove on. Surpringly many do. The museum is not that big, but I love this house. It is odd but because I spent 6 weeks here every summer for the last 4 years, now the place almost feels like it is mine. I prefer the kitchen most of all the house. It is 150 years older than the rest. And you can sense it, it's cool. And the entire room is full of old anti spirit stuff, Odin's crosses and the like.

The coat is almost done, I'll attach the buckles when I get home. It looks amazing and I really like the look. I am really a coat person. I got plans for at least two more coats, and one I want to buy, that would be an oilskin coat for riding, like they have in Australia. Those would come in handy in the rainy summer, like we have in Norway.
Now half the time is over, I just had a bunch of people, and a visit from my employer. I actually like talking about the place here. I have so much random knowledge about this place. Like that there is an old king burried here and that an old master thief is from this area. As I said random fun knowledge. I love learning, everything and anything. Except for chemestry. Don't like it. On the other hand I want to learn Scottish Gaelic. Yep, and I am intending to become an engineer. It is odd but most people here ask the ever present "So, what do you study?" "Engineering." "Oh, what kind of engineering?" "Robotics engineering." at which point I either get a 'good luck', 'what..' or just a blank stare. Is it really that hard to imagine me as an robotics/neuro engineer? Okeey, maybe after I have just given half an hour to an hour talk on local history and everyday life in 1850-1925 that sounds like it comes from a lecture hall, I guess they except to hear that I study history or something else that would be logical with my work.

My mom just came over with a cup of coffee. Nothing warms you up like a cup of hot coffee, when you are wearing too little on a rainy cold august day in a house with no power. Not that I ever need a reason to drink coffee. I am bringing good coffee with me. Seems a bit like bringing coal to New Castle, to bring coffee to Smith, but I have yet to find good coffee in the US. My uncle says the only good coffee place in the USA and that is somewhere in Lousianna. I am not sure, all I know is that what they serve as coffee in the Campus Center Cafe is just brown water and all the other coffee places in NoHo are just ok. Not wow, just ok. And I miss having a stove so I can make coffee the proper way, in a mocca. Instead I have to get by a french press. Well it works and if I have good ground coffee, it is rather good.

Ok, this have taken forever. I started this post on thursday. Which means I have been working on this for 5 days now. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my long rambling.

Blown Away...

Ok, so opening song of the day, mainly because I don't know what the theme of the rant will be this time. But first I want to direct attention to a movie I watched today that blew my mind away. Missing Pages. It you don't go an at least give the trailer a try you are seriously missing out on something. The whole movie will only take half an hour of you life at most. Today at work I was bored and I remembered that I had this movie on my ipod and decided to give it a try, so this is a movie that managed to blow my mind on a ipod screen. I am looking forward to when I sit down and watch it on my computer. The first thing that hit me was the amazingly cool 'filming' style. And then it was the beauty of the pictures. And then it was the creepyness of the Core guys (just look at this picture), and then it was the twist and the sudden end. Before I watched the movie I had hear an interview with Jerome Oliver, the writer and director of the movie, so the story made kind of sense to me.
And since I am up to date with the 7th Son podcast, I started listening to 'Billibub Baddings and the case of the singing sword' by Tee Morris. The story is set in 1929 Chicago and it is a fantasy detective novel, and I love it. I finished it today, and I am for sure buying a copy of the written version, if not for myself then for the SSFFS libary. But I see myself reading this book to my sister's spawn when the little monster grows up, sans chapter 13 or with an heavily edited version of it, but more on the spawn later. And then today when I finished Billi, I started The Rookie by Scott Sigler, now I have started Earthcore by the same guy and I have the first 8 or so chapters of Infected on my ipod, but somehow it was The Rookie I fell for, which is odd because it is about a pro-football player. Yes, American Football, which I know so much about....I think the only sport I know less about is polo. But yes, it is a SciFi story about an football player, yep I was kinda "Eeeeeekeeey?" but when Sigler said 'give me four chapters to hook you' I decided to try, and he had me hooked by the first chapter. So when I get back, I am going to need someone to explain football to me, anyone up to the challange?

In the sewing department things are going great. Mom is helping with the collar on the coat. And I have started on the linnen dress, and by some cool coincidence I bought too much fabric so, I might be making a skirt as well. The fabric for the dress is cut, edges sealed (I actually don't know the word for this, but it is something you do to keep the fabric from fraying), and the darts are done, and a tiny bit of the main construction is done. I am also going to need to put in a zipper here, a zipper that I haven't bought, but since I am going to the city to renew my passport tomorrow I should be able to get hold of it. I should also see if I can get some nice summer high heels since my old ones broke. And buy hair dye, I am going back to dark purple.

Good Days

Ok, so screw the vid and listen to the song.. The beauty of Norwegian music. I have been a fan of these guys for ages. Some of the best Norwegian music happens to be rap, both in English and Norwegian. What I like about Paperboys is that they cover many different topics. There are the amazing soul searching songs like 'Find my Way' or 'One Day', and then feel good songs like 'Tomorrow' or 'Wiggle it' and then there are the cocky i'm-the-best songs like 'what you need.' Another thing I like about them is that even though all their lyrics are in English they are very aware and proud of the fact that they are Norwegians, and a lot of the references are made to it. Like that they say 'kronas' in stead of 'dollars'. That might not seem like a lot, but it does matter in this Americanised world.
But yeah, what started this rant was my need to describe how the last few days have been. In one word, perfect. Dressed up for work, felt pretty, didn't get any guests so I spent the days listening to Billibob Baddings, and after work yesterday I walked straight from work to the beach (which is two minutes from where I work) and the water was nice and warm (21 degrees C). It's been totally chill. Today it was rainy but it didn't matter. I got to sew and stuff. In short life is perfect and as my grandmother used to say "I wish everybody in the world had it as nice as I have." And that is true. I honestly wish everyone could have days like this.

I wanna

...become a helicopter pilot... Or at least be allowed to pilot one. My bro just laughs at me when I say this. Guess who's gonna show him... I have had a love for the flying tin cans for years. I actually seriously considered joining up with the boys in green for the sake that I might be allowed to fly one of the babies. But nah, I let what my dad said kick me away from the dream of flying a fighter chopper, ' Tonje, they will never let you fly anything.' I am actually rather pissed at him for saying that, but heck that is all past now I guess. It is odd how different things could have been. I could have been in the army now. Would have finished Vidregånde (Norwegian last three years of high school) and then gotten my engineering education in the army. Was actually thinking about that for a long time, I guess I would have if I didn't get into Flekke. Flekke changed a lot of things. Except for that wish to pilot a flying tin can. Still wanna do that.

Larping

I don’t think I’ll be going back to larping at Smith. There are several reasons for this, one of them is time. I need to focus on studying if I want to end up doing what I want. And then I need to spend time with the friends that don’t see me every day, my UWC friends. Really, it is a bit of a wonder that they still put up with me when seeing them once a week was about as often as I got around to it. I want to be able to go to our five college UWC parties and hang out with that crowd as well.

Then it is the Arkham by Night crowd. The people in this group that I like to hang out with, I get to hang around anyway, or have contact with outside the game. Apart from these people, a lot of the people in the game get on my nerves. I could elaborate but I am not going to since a lot of it is issues I have with specific people and I am not in the mood to do shit throwing in the open. Having in my head is bad enough. Let’s just say that the entire this started to bore me. I think it was because it felt like we were doing the same thing time after time after time. Which we were. Now you need to know that I fell in love with Norwegian larping way back, and it really is a part of me. I have been a larper for the last 3 years and I was in the scene for two years before that (mainly because Norwegian larps run a 16 or 18 year limit on games unless you have family members in the game). And in those years none of the larps I have been interested in have been the same. The closest is Elencalion Formen which ran its fourth game this summer. But the plot have been different enough that it does not feel like I am repeating myself. And heck for EF:5 we are considering a winter larp. Another is Norwegian Woods where the second game is getting planned for ’08. The first was set in the woods where several groups of people got together, and stuff happened. Yes it was a Call of Cathulu larp. I recommend the Phenomena X; recovered files form Norway movie if you are interested. That was the in game tv crew’s documentary, and it is in English. NW2 is the sequel, and surviving characters can be brought back. But as far as I know they are running it in a different part if the country and in an actual insane asylum. And plot wise it is in an insane asylum as well. That is just beyond cool.

In AbN I also felt like there was a lot of competition between the players; I probably was responsible for this myself, but still. I never really felt comfortable at the dinner or stuff. I larp because of the amazing people in the community, and because of the unique sense of community we have, and to be honest the AbN crowd lacked that. I don’t know if it is the people, the style of larping or just that I never really got into it. But it felt like people was playing, both in and out of character, for the sake of their own character and not for the sake of the story. Now it is true that a selfish and not to mention self preserving character is realistic, especially in a vampire game, but it felt like a lot of people was breaking character and meta gaming. I have yet to encounter Meta gaming in Norwegian larps, yes we do go out of character, mainly because when you are in character for 24 hours, 48 hours or even five days in a row you need to in order not to go crazy. But I have seen 3-5 year olds stay in character better in certain situations than similar situations in AbN.

Lastly I have problems working up enthusiasms to go game in AbN again. I just don’t want to. It has become something I have to do because other characters depend on mine. In comparison, there are larps here where I beat myself over the head because I can’t go. I seriously considered dropping international student intro week last year to go to Dragon bane. DB was a giant (900 - 1200 players) pan-European larp in Sweden. I am secretly lobbying for not having EF5 be a winter larp so that I can go. I was considering to skip work a week to go work (not even be a player) at a larp on the west coast. I look at how much I want to look at that and then I look at myself having to force myself to Seelye on those Saturday nights. Why bother doing something I don’t really want to?

Now, I am not stopping larping, for god’s sake... I’ll larp in Norway, and I might go back to Arkham, but I just need a break from it. I’ll still be plotting my larp for up here in Norway and am going to work on my character concept for a future EF. Heck I am even toying with the idea of a Shadow run or 7^th Son larp. Both of which will require a lot of crew to get running. 7^th Son larp could be real fun though. The idea has been brewing in my head for a few days and prolly will need a lot more brewing. Not to mention an extreme amount of planning to become good. Did I mention a big crew? If I would run these I would want to do it as a Norwegian style larp, i.e. no dice or cards and GM telling you what you know. You know what you know…Now that requires also an insane amount of preparation from the player, but I think it would be a cool experiment. If any of you are 7^th Son fans and agree with me, drop me a line. And when I say a big crew I mean prolly 20-30 people for maybe 10 players. I am using the word crew and not story teller, because in Norway we actually have different names for the different jobs. Arangør (Manager) is responsible for the practical stuff, getting a place, getting food, etc. The IL or Intrige Leder (Intrigue Leader or Game Master) is, surprisingly enough, responsible for the plot and making sure it runs smooth. SIS or Skummelt I Skogen (Scary in the Forest or NPC-players) is exactly that. You are a part of the crew and you generally have more than one character. Now it is not uncommon for a player whose character dies to go be a SIS, did I mention playing for the sake of the story and not for the sake of your character. A 7^th Son larp would need a couple of Managers, 4-5 ILs and a ton of SIS. Shadowrun would as well. But given the choice I think I would actually like to SIS these games.

Talking about 7^th Son, I have caught up so I have to wait for the next chapters… How am I going to survive only getting about 30 minutes of 7^th Son a week? By reading other books. I am rereading Ender’s Game which Nat gave me last summer and I am listening to Number 1 with a Bullet, Infected, Earthcore and Billibub Baddings and the case of the Singing Sword. The three last are by authors who are supposed to be very good and I fell for the concept of the first one.

On a costume/sewing related note, most of the major construction on the coat is done, of the major things I have to do the arms and then it is all small stuff like the collar and buckles and stuff. I might have to do some more design changes though but those have to wait until my mom gets back. Estimated time remaining 5-6 hours, estimated time spent 2-3 hours. I am giving myself loads of time, because now it is detail time and I want them to look good. That is another reason to wait until my mom gets back. It is not like I don’t have other projects…

I wanna dance

At the devil's party nothing's a sin
At the devil's party we know where you've been
If we're all right then tell me who's wrong
The love in a war, where do we belong?
I might believe it's love, you might believe it's war
At the devil's party there's no light from the sun
At the devil's party, now, life's a loaded gun
More or less? No, less is more
Go on and be my guest
Where do we belong?
- Devil's Party by INXS

I have had this strange urge to go partying... I wanna go to the gay bar in Brussels where I spent an evening with one of the sexiest guys I have yet had the pleasure to meet. God that was a fun evening. Also when one of the girls I with bumped into someone rather hard on the dance floor, turns to say sorry and the guy just looks at her and then at her cleavage (she was wearing a rather low cut top) and goes 'you know that is not gonna help you here?'... And then her respons 'yep'. And another of the best things. I was 15 (or 14, don't remember) and guess who was not among the people they IDed at the door? Yep. It was a place with an 18 year age limit. *Grin*
A week alone in Brussels.. It was so insanely fun. I got hooked on gay bars, Belgian Waffles, Chocolate and the feel of European cities.
Then another of those those partying experiences. Flekke, second year. A bunch of my second years came back and threw us a giant party. I had already drunk most of my alcohol for that week the day before so I only had a few beers in my system and ended up being the one in my gang who got all the drunk ones on a taxi and home. And then I ended up dancing with the guy I was in love with, a lot, just him and I, very close. And I realized that I could settle for that. That I could settle for this fake resemblance of love. It was an odd and at the time very good feeling. Now I realize how fucked up it was, but you need to understand that this was after having gotten my feelings properly played for nine or ten months by this guy. And then a few weeks later he went and properly broke my heart, but that is another story.
I wanna go partying. I wanna feel other people around me. I wanna not give a damn about how I look or feeling clumsy or anything. I just wanna go dancing

About Home

Do me a favour and give this vid at least one minute of your time. Believe me it is impressive once you get into it.

Now...My parents and brother came home, finally. They have been away since early morning Friday. And I have been in more or less isolation. My interaction with people friday was less than an half an hour, yesterday a bit better an hour maybe two, and today was rather good. But I think I surprised the guest today with my chattyness. Apart from that I have slept a lot to make time pass. Yes, I am not cut out for solidary confinement. Yes, I have no problem being alone for a few hours or maybe a day, but when we are talking 48 or 72 hours... I crack and go crazy...
When I walked to and fro work today I stopped at the bridge and looked at the place I live. Listened to it, a trick from Michael in 7th Son. And what I felt was a feel of never changing. Now you need to know that there have been people here for really ages. For about as long as there have been Norwegians in Norway. The place got it's name from King Svein who is burried here. Now there have not been a king Svein as long as Norway have been one kingdom, which places this place as a big setting before 930 AD. If you ever come I'll point you to his burrial mound. This place have been more or less the same since then.
Home is never the same once you have left home. It is not home in the same way. But I love it even more than when I lived here. Now it is home in a completely different way. It is something never changing. When I need a break, somewhere to escape to, this is it. I can go into the forest, walk along the old trails and paths made by animals, at those moments I am the young kid who went elf hunting again. Well I never actually went elf hunting, don't dare to. You see, the is this one place in the forest that gives me the creeps, it is a top of a hill which the trail I used to train my horse along and is the trail I run on snakes around. One late fall evening, in the twillight I was out with my horse and I looked up there are I could have sworn I saw something humanoid up there. Tall, thin, and looking straight at me with a look that said "Don't you dare come any closer." Which of course resulted in me walking up there. I have never felt that I didn't belong so much. Not even at family dinners in Hong Kong with Cheryl's family where they all spoke Cantonese. The only way I can describe it was that it felt like I was trespassing... Needless to say I have never been there again. But I am rambling.
I love this place, don't care much for the people but the place, this is where I belong, maybe more than the people who's families date back to King Svein. Because I am not a local, I paid attention to the place, learned to love every tree and twig and stone. And now the place loves me. I finally understand the line of our national anthem that goes like 'even we when it's demanded for its peace will encamp'. Actually I am gonna give you the entire national anthem. Because I think it is a rather beautiful anthem.
JA, VI ELSKER DETTE LANDET (Yes, we love this country)
1
Ja, vi elsker dette landet, Yes, we love this country
som det stiger frem, as it rises forth,
furet, værbitt over vannet, rugged, weathered, above the sea,
med de tusen hjem. with the thousands of homes.
Elsker, elsker det og tenker Loving, loving it and thinking
på vår far og mor about our father and mother
og den saganatt som senker and the saga night that sends
drømme på vår jord. dreams to our earth.
Og den saganatt som senker, And the saga night that sends,
senker drømme på vår jord. sends dreams to our earth.


2
Dette landet Harald berget This country Harald united
med sin kjemperad, with his army of heroes,
dette landet Håkon verget this country Håkon protected
medens Øyvind kvad; whilst Øyvind sung;
Olav på det landet malte upon the country Olav painted
korset med sitt blod, with his blood the cross,
fra dets høye Sverre talte from its heights Sverre spoke
Roma midt imot. up against Rome.


3
Bønder sine økser brynte Farmers their axes sharpened
hvor en hær dro frem, wherever an army advanced,
Tordenskiold langs kysten lynte, Tordenskiold around the coastline thundered
så den lystes hjem. so that we could see it back home.
Kvinner selv stod opp og strede Even women stood up and fought
som de vare menn; as if they were men;
andre kunne bare grede, others could only cry
men det kom igjen! but that soon would end!


4
Visstnok var vi ikke mange, Sure, we were not many
men vi strakk dog til, but we were enough,
da vi prøvdes noen gange, when we were tested sometimes,
og det stod på spill; and it was at stake;
ti vi heller landet brente we would rather burn our land
enn det kom til fall; than to declare defeat;
husker bare hva som hendte just remember what happened
ned på Fredrikshald! down at Fredrikshald!


5
Hårde tider har vi døyet, Hard times we have coped with,
ble til sist forstøtt; were at last disowned;
men i verste nød blåøyet but in the worst distress, blue-eyed
frihet ble oss født. freedom was to us born.
Det gav faderkraft å bære It gave (us) father's strength to carry
hungersnød og krig, famine and war,
det gav døden selv sin ære - it gave death itself its honour -
og det gav forlik. and it gave reconciliation.


6
Fienden sitt våpen kastet, The enemy threw away his weapon,
opp visiret for, up the visor went,
vi med undren mot ham hastet, we, in wonder, to him hastened,
ti han var vår bror. because he was our brother.
Drevne frem på stand av skammen Driven forth to a stand by shame
gikk vi søderpå; we went to the south;
nu vi står tre brødre sammen, now we three brothers stand united,
og skal sådan stå! and shall stand like that!


7
Norske mann i hus og hytte, Norseman in house and cabin,
takk din store Gud! thank your great God!
Landet ville han beskytte, The country he wanted to protect,
skjønt det mørkt så ut. although things looked dark.
Alt hva fedrene har kjempet, All the fights fathers have fought,
mødrene har grett, and the mothers have wept,
har den Herre stille lempet the Lord has quietly moved
så vi vant vår rett. so we won our rights.


8
Ja, vi elsker dette landet, Yes, we love this country
som det stiger frem, as it rises forth,
furet, værbitt over vannet, rugged, weathered, above the sea,
med de tusen hjem. with those thousand homes.
Og som fedres kamp har hevet And as the fathers' struggle has raised
det av nød til seir, it from poverty to victory,
også vi, når det blir krevet, even we, when it is demanded,
for dets fred slår leir. for its peace will encamp (for defence).

You know.. There is really only one word to describe this place. It is home.

Anti war movies

This summer I have been watching more antiwar movies than I normally do. My mom have quite a lot these. I think it was her rebellion towards her father, who was in the Norwegian Navy, actually fairly high ranking. My mom tells how he tore a poster of Che Guevara down from her wall. But yeah, this summer I have watched: Hair, Good Morning Vietnam, Kelley's Heroes, and at last, today, M*A*S*H. I am partly raised on that show. Though what I watched today was the movie version. I have very mixed feelings about these movies. On one hand, I agree with the message in them and stuff, but at the same time, I am a realistic person, war is always gonna be around. Ain't nothing we can really do about it. Then I worry for Danna, and for Robbie when it is his time to serve. I worry more about them than for the chance that my brother might serve. Two reasons for this, one is that my brother might not even serve and the other is that the situation is quite different. Israel and Norway.
I started thinking about this today as I caught up to the current episode of 7th Son. Most of my heroes in the novel are army guys. Michael the marine of the clones, Gen. Orlando Hill, Major Bennett, Stone(I seem to remember he's a corporal, but I am not sure). Why? I honestly don't know. You know what they say about men in uniform? It is honestly not a joke. But still, doesn't matter. Bennett was just introduced and Stone is a very minor character, why do I like them so much? I would like to know the answer.
And there wasn't really a point to this rant, sorry..

Bad Boys

Bad boys,bad boys whatcha gonna do whatcha gonna do?
When they come for you? Bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
- Bad Boys by Bob Marley

Ok, so I have been bad. I had nicotine after almost three months of. Just one water pipe. One coal. Not bad, considering... It took a bit getting used to smoking again. Smoking alone doesn't feel right though. I think the pipe is gonna come with me. I have a feeling it will get used more when I am with Ulrika and Sonia than here. But damn, I had forgotten how good mint is. And you know, the tobacco from Hong Kong was still good. That is amazing. It's been over a year since we opened that package. What we can learn from this, sealing the bag really helps. But yeah. Had a pipe yesterday, and now I want more. For some reason I want a cig. Why? I don't even like cigs that much. I'll take a pipe any day over a cig. I guess it that you can smoke a cig alone. And the nicotine is really soothing. It was how I relaxed in Flekke and to be honest at Smith as well. Just being with Ulrika, Sonia, Gina, Dee and the gang. People who know where I come from and have been there themselvs. UWC is a really intence experience and you grow up fast, and unless you've been ther you won't understand. But both places the circle around the pipe have been a place I could be with friends who asked nothing of me, past that I pay for my own booze and chip in on the tobacco, and that I don't hug the pipe. The last two years have been so full of presure and then relaxing like that was so good. And I miss that here. Even if there is not really that much presure, I miss the circle and the nice fuzzy feeling of nicotine in your system. You know I don't smoke much when I get that feeling from nicotine and you know? That is how I like it...
But I have been a bad girl. I should never have started smoking in the first place. Peer presure. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and I liked it. I promised I would stop once I left Flekke, yeah right. I promised I would not smoke back home... Broke that promise yesterday... I won't bother making anymore promises... But yeah, I have been bad, feel free to yell at me.

And really, this confession is just an exuse to show you some lovely German bad boys and play that song, it's been running through my head all day. So not only am I a bad girl, I am also sneaky... :P

Ok, I admit...

... I have fallen in love. With an Italian. Name: Bugatti Veyron. Just look at this. Isn't she a beauty? Of course there is a hitch, price tag: 1,1 mill Euro or just below 1.5 mill USD. And they are only planning on making 300 of the babies. But still, I can dream right? Fast Italian cars and Japanese bikes is another of my drooling objects. There is only two reasons why I want a driving licenese, one: it would make my life here easier and two: I can dream of one day setting foot in a Bugatti, Lamborgini or Ferrari. Of course the Brits have some nice cars too, but they do not beat the Italians. It's like ice cream, you might make something good, but you can not beat the Italians....

I like:

-Beer
-Pinguins
-Rammstein
-Fan Fiction
-A cat sleeping on my stomach
-Smell of leather
-Bacardi
-Sun
-Asian (East Asia, actually) guys (aka eye candy)
-Music that makes me smile
-British Accents
-Bollywood
-Crazy hair colours
-Strawberries and whipped cream
-The odd tight feeling of a corset
-Podio-books

There is absolutely no particular reason for this. Other than this of course:

First time I saw it, I just smiled of the music, then I realized the eye candy, and then I realized it was funny eye candy in nice clothing (I am a sucker for men in nice clothing.), and then it hit me. I am sure I saw that red haired guy in Hong Kong. Or you know, someone who looked just like him, only with dark hair. But then again I saw a lot of pretty boys in HK so... I guess I was dreaming, but still, the feeling of having seen him in real life was...odd, even when I rationalized it and decided it was most likely just something I've put there. And then of course, it is eye candy that looks confident and dangerous, that is a combination that makes my knees go weak. I like confident, dangerous eye candy the most.

Another reason for this post might be the can of beer next to my bed, but then again, it is only half empty, and I have been nursing it for two and a half hours. So that shouldn't be it, except for, I really like good beer.

Acomplished

Yesterday I managed to finish the ren (like) garb I have been working on. A chemise, steel boned corset, bodice and skirt, all made by yours truly, with help from my mom. We have also ordered more fabric so, my next project will be the coat. A full length black (fake) leather coat. We will have to do some pattern modifications but that should be easy enough, between us we have somewhere between 40 and 50 years of sewing expirience. What should be more than enough right? I am not sure what I am going to do for my next costume. I kind of want to do something more eastern inspired. I was planning to do something middle eastern for a larp costume. I found a really cool resource for that, here. Any ideas for costumes I should make myself?
Even better, yesterday I finally got some writing done. I have been planning to write for ages, but never got any done. Then yesterday I said at work: 'Now I am going to write until my battery is out'. Which resulted in a 550 word flash story. Can be found here. It seems that I only have an writing attention span of about 500 words(trust me, that is not fun when you have to write for school). Unless I am really in the mood of course. But I have some ideas that I want to do with these guys, so what it looks like I do is a series of flash stories. I'll do another one at work today. Yay!...

3 good things

"Alle gode ting er tre" (All good things come in three)
-Norwegian Proverb

I went down to pick up the mail today and this is what I found
-This months Nemi
-Harry Potter 7, yes the post office had been late, but heck...
-A letter from the state educational loan fund with my financial aid for next year. And I got more than expected... Yay! I have never had that much money in my life. They'll give twice of what Ihave to pay Smith, which means I can begin to pay back the loan I had to take for last year, I might be able to pay it all this year. And then save up for later. I can't begin to describe how relived I am, but I am going to try anyway. Imagine having gone camping, and you've been carrying a heavy backpack all day, you know, all your food, tent all of that, and then you take it of. That is how this feels. I have money for next year, I am going to be able to finish at Smith. And life is just amazingly good right now.

Milk-less coffee

"cigarettes and chocolate milk
these are just a couple of my cravings
everything it seems i like's a little bit stronger
a little bit thicker
a little bit harmful for me

if i should buy jellybeans
have to eat them all in just one sitting
everything it seems i like's a little bit sweeter
a little bit fatter
a little bit harmful for me

and then there's those other things
which for several reasons we won't mention
everything about them is a little bit stranger
a little bit harder
a little bit deadly

it isn't very smart
tends to make one part so broken-hearted"
-Cigarettes and Chocolate milk by Rufus Wainwright

Me and my brother is home alone. Well I guess it stops being called home alone once you have lived away from home for a few years. But yeah, our parents are away, they are at the racing tracks, one of the really big races are today and tomorrow, it used to be called the 'night-trot' since it would be at night, followed by a major party, but they don't do that anymore, now it is 'just' one of the biggest races in Norway. Kind of funny, I have raced most of the biggest races in Norway, one of them being one of the biggest in Europe and horses come from all over the world to compete that day. If I hadn't gone to Flekke, I would have had a professional racing lisence by now. Some of the kids I used to race with are big in the grown ups game these days.
I have started over again on listening to 7th Son by JC Hutchings, I really do recomend this podio book, it has crazy scientists, cloning, precidential murders, military talk, hackers and conspiracy theories. It is really good.

"It's story time...and I promise you it's true"

Lately I have been into others' creativity as much as my own. As some of you know I have been gaming a lot, which is a sort of collective creativity. But more than that, I have been drinking in others'. Bunny's story, fanfiction, deviantart, webcomics and last but not least escapepod and pseudopod. Those two are podcasts that every week presents you with a story, escape pod is SF&F and pseudopod is horror. Some of these stories are really really good. Some of the horror stories makes me want to curl up in a corner and hide, which is exactly what a horror story should do. I was recently pimping pseudopod to Derek, and I figured I could do some pimping to other people as well.
Here is some of my favorite stories:
Goon Job (Pseudo Pod) - I think this could be an amazing Shadowrun adventure
What you wish for (Pseudo Pod)
We are all very lively (Pseudo Pod)
Some things don't wash off (Pseudo Pod) - A must hear, just plain amazing.
I have some catching up to do on escape pod, but I'll give you a list there later


In slightly more my creativity lane, brother agreed to model for a shadowrun shoot and we'll do it tonight. I have some ideas, and I'll run then by him and figure out what he wants as well. I think we'll include Tita as well, yes my brother and I named the gun for fun, and because it is a Tikka rifle, it is named Tita. We also have some other props where that I don't have access to at Smith, like a safty vest. It is not kevlar, but it looks it. So I am thinking a military/security style thing. And I think our basement should be a cool place to do it.

Creative

"Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

At a higher altitude with flag unfuried
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Eneumbered forever by desire and ambition
Theres a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many time"
-High Hopes by Pink Floyd (though I prefer the Nightwish version.)

Work was fun today, had an amazing 10 people (only 8 paying though), two of them French actually. Which means the museum made 240 NOK (42 USD), which is about half of what they pay to keep me there today. Talk about throwing away money. Not that I complain. I love my job. Today I read through a short story Bunny wanted my opinion on, it is only a first draft and I am looking forward to see what she does with it. I also listened to Dragon's Landing, I quite like their new segment 'pimp my campaign'. It is really good for coming up with ideas for games. Also they talked about getting inspiration from songs (Episode 82, if you are wondering). Personally I think one great band for roleplaying ideas is Nightwish. I have once heard their music described as epic, and I agree. Songs like the Wayfarer, Over the Hills and far Away, and the Riddler, have all inspired D&D campaigns for me. But thanks to Buns and her story, which I am pretty sure originated in a rpg session, I have gotten some inspiration to do some writing myself. Probably game related, I have some ideas that could be fun, based on my Hong Kong Shadowrun game. For those of you who knows the characters, what I am thinking is Neculai's capture and training. But I might also do some Ning and Wu (NPC no-one has met yet). Both of which means I'll get some training in writing action. Which can only be good, right?
In Shadowrun related stuff, I have an idea for a series of photos. The grand idea: Shadowrun. A dark and gritty world in 2070, where magic have come back and elvs, dwarfs, orks and trolls walk among us. The Wikipedia article (see above link) have a pretty good overview. For this I am going to need models, I am going to need character ideas, I am going to need costume ideas. I have some of the two last. I don't want to take pictures of runners only, but also Johnsons, deals being made, maybe action shots, whatever comes to mind really. Wanna help out? Drop me a line, either a comment, on my facebook, or email me. I'll be forever grateful for help, and when I am grateful there is chocolate. Other than that I can promise a free print for models, if I ever decide to have the stuff printed, that is a general rule I have for model work.

"Wir waren namenlos
Wir haben einen Namen
Waren wortlos
Die Worte kamen
Etwas sanglos
Sind wir immer noch
Dafür nicht klanglos
Das hört man doch
Wir sind nicht fehlerlos
Nur etwas haltlos
Ihr werdet lautlos
Uns nie los"
-Los by Rammstein

Los is one of my favorite songs by Rammstein, together with Mein Teil, Ohne Dich, Ich Will and Du Hast (and yes, for me it has always been 'you have' (du hast) not 'you hate' (du hasst)...) But that is mainly beside the point. I like Rammstein, and listen to them quite a lot, but not at work, for one very simple reason, the majority of the people who come speak German, and many are old people. Now a song like Rein Raus or Keine Lust would not be appriciated. Not to mention that a lot of people are also families with kids, and they are not really kid's songs. So I generally don't play Rammstein at work, but yesterday was a nice sunny day and I was laying on the lawn, solving Sudoku and had actually brought the iPod speakers and was listening to music loudly, so loud that I didn't hear the car stop and the people enter the museum, they came in the back for some odd reason as well, and I only saw them when they came out. A few minutes earlier I had been half way through Wolt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen before I registered what it was and switched to Dimmu (yeah, I know, way better...), then I saw them and went in to get the money and answer any questions they have. I thought I was about to go the color of a tomato when I heard the guy say "Wir müssen betalen, ja?", my answer: "Um....Ja....Viel Dank". The only thing that saved me was that the guy was an obvious metal fan, so I guess it was not too bad. In other German related news, I am on page two of Der Herr der Ringe. I am reading loud to myself, and it is actually tiring to read, but it was the same way with English in the beginning so I have my hopes up. I am also working on getting my speaking skills and listening comprehension up, and am listen to this podcast, I think it is a pretty ok podcast. And so far I have found that I can follow his talking quite easily. Seems like what I need is a conversation partner, so I can just speak.
Went to see Harry Potter 5 yesterday, was ok, I think that was because I didn't have high hopes. I tend not to when I go see a movie adapation of a book, ever since the first Harry Potter movie I have talked myself down before going in, which means that I don't get so disapointed. My dad however, who have not read he book, said the movie was hard to understand and jumpy. And I can see why. I however found it quite pleasant, might have something to so with the large amounts of Gary Oldman (I never realized how good looking the guy is), Jason Isaacs (drool), and Tom Felton (hey, let's stop this stupid Harry thing and make a Draco movie). I also enjoyed watching Alan Rickman, I love the character of Snape. And Davon Murray's accent. Why am I really studying in the US? I could have gone to Great Brittan. I even got into University of New Castle upon Tyne, and University of Edinburgh. I could have been working on getting a cool Scottish or New Castle accent. Why? Oh, oh yeah, wanna go to MiT for grad school, had forgotten that...*Smile*
We had shrimps for dinner today. The South Norwegian way. Just cold boiled shrimp, on white bread with majonaise and lemon squeezed on top. I love this, so insanely good and so summer. I am quite good at peeling shrimp actually. No I am going to go and check if there is more coffee