Category: Little Voices archive entries

I am somewhat low on energy at the moment. I’ve only been at work for 8 hours, but it feels more like 12, and I have quite a lot to do, so a little pzazz would be helpful. Instead I have a roaming headache (one that comes and goes and moves about, currently residing in my right temple) and no energy whatsoever. I need to leave to go to the whisky society board meeting in less than half an hour in any case, but as things stand I could do with getting some constructive work done in that time, which seems unlikely.

Yesterday I couldn’t stop yawning after lunch.

Considering whether vitamin supplements or something of that nature might not be a bad idea. Less work and more sleep would also be good, but very unrealistic (besides, I’ve had plenty of sleep this week, and it obviously hasn’t done me any good – perhaps I should aim to sleep less?).

Voice in my head: Alanis Morisette – Not the Doctor

Robin is a Fruit-Eating Pirate Monkey …with a Battle Rating of 9.1 To see if your Food-Eating Battle Monkey can defeat Robin, enter your name:

Sorry, Joh.

Personal relationships, real and imagined

Do not assume that you know everything there is to know about me simply because you read this blog on a regular basis. Though what I write here is certainly a truth, it is not the whole truth, by a long stretch. If you want to form judgments of me based on the information to be found here, that is your prerogative. If you chose to tell me what you think of me either in the comments or via e-mail (or any other way you like), then it is my prerogative to ignore you, as and when I chose. I invite comments, but if you have nothing constructive or encouraging to say, please count to ten and reconsider. If you disagree with something I’ve said, please ask me to clarify before lashing out – I try to be lucid, but may not always succeed.

On the whole, if you want more information or clarification, please ask. However, do not be offended if I refuse or ignore the request. I am sometimes vague on purpose, and it is possible that I have good reason to be vague, and even if my reasons would not seem adequate to you, what I share and what I don’t is my choice entirely, reading this blog does not automatically give you any right to more information.

If you know or have known me in real life and read this blog on a regular basis, I’d appreciate it if you let me know. Not doing so seems to me to be akin to eavesdropping, and therefore rather childish. Whether I am aware of your readership or not, I avoid writing anything here that I do not want you to hear, so you are not going to “miss out” if you let me know.

Please note that I purposefully make a lot of what I write non-specific, please do not, therefore, assume that I am referring to you just because the facts seem to fit, unless I mention your name specifically. If you read something you do not like, please discuss it with me before you let it affect our relationship. If you feel that I am compromising your privacy by writing about you, please let me know. We should be able to come to a satisfactory agreement, I can either write even more vaguely, or I can refrain from mentioning anything concerning you. Please also consider that although you may (think you) know who and what I am talking about, again, unless I mention names, the rest of the world probably does not.

Other topics

The above covers what I have to say on “Personal relationships and privacy” which is the only part of this general disclaimer for bloggers which I did not feel I could subscribe to. Please read anything that applies to you as regards “Feedback and initiating contact”, “Offensive language and materials” and “Copyright and courtesy” sections.

As far as contacting me goes, the general disclaimer is accurate, except that I would like to add that as of this moment, I do generally respond to all genuine attempts to contact me. Depending on how busy I am, a response might not always appear immediately, however.

I will create a permanent link to this entry in the right hand menu, but felt it was appropriate to create the disclaimer as a blog entry for the very specific reason that you will then be able to comment on it.

Well, that’s it. I’m not buying any more books from Ark.

Every two years there is a big semi-co-ordinated book sale in Norway called “Mammutsalget” (the mammoth sale – easy innit?), most of the books being 50-70% off the normal retail price. This year the official dates were 10-22 March. And every year the best part of the sale is the week after, where all the shops do 30-70% off the sale price again, making the books very cheap indeed. Of course, by this time, the established goodies are gone, but then, one may not always agree with everyone else on what “the goodies” are. So today after work I went trawling the bookshops of Oslo. I actually made it to Tanum on Karl Johan yesterday, and they had 30% off, and I made off with:

Ludwig Wittgenstein “Filosofiske undersøkelser” (Philosophische Untersuchungen)
André Bjerke “Versekunsten, rytme og rim”
Charles Baudelaire “Kunsten og det moderne liv” (contains a selection of Baudelaires art criticism and essays)

and all for less than 200 kroner. Yay me. So today I started at Ark up by Sollis Plass. What? No sale? All Mammut books tidied away? More’s the pity. So I walked down to Norli, and (whahay!) they were doing 50% off. So there I was, paying (very little) for

Georg Johannesen “Litteraturens norske nullpunkt” (essays on contemporary Norwegian non-fiction)
Olav H. Hauge “Dikt i umsetjing” (selected poetry translated by Hauge, from such poets as Hölderlin and Celan)
Charles Baudelaire “Det vondes blomar” (Les Fleur du Mal)

That should keep me busy for a while. However, not done with Ark yet. I also tried the Egertorvet branch. Surely they must realise that the hunt through the cheap remains is the main delight of the sale? No, they don’t. Or, if they do, they don’t care. All sale books tidied away.

So, while everyone else is boycotting Iraq, the United States, Shell, France, McDonald’s, Nike and heaven knows what else, I am going to boycott Ark. That’s how seriously I take my book buying.

Voice on the stereo: Chrissy Hynde (well, The Pretenders) – My City Was Gone (I started humming Don’t Get Me Wrong earlier and wanted to hear it. Turns out I don’t actually have it on CD, which seems frightfully remiss of me and which will have to be remedied. In the meantime, this isn’t bad.)

This arrived in my mailbox this morning (with an attachment called Q240312.exe) :

Microsoft Customer

this is the latest version of security update, the
“March 2003, Cumulative Patch” update which eliminates
all known security vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer,
Outlook and Outlook Express as well as five newly
discovered vulnerabilities. Install now to protect your computer
from these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow
an attacker to run executable on your system. This update includes
the functionality of all previously released patches.

Microsoft Product Support Services and Knowledge Base articles can be found on the Microsoft Technical Support web site. For security-related information about Microsoft products, please visit the Microsoft Security Advisor web site, or Contact us.

Please do not reply to this message. It was sent from an unmonitored e-mail address and we are unable to respond to any replies.

Thank you for using Microsoft products.

With friendly greetings,
Microsoft Internet Technical Services

Now, it is of course possible that this is legit, but for several reasons I doubt it…

1. Since when does Microsoft send you security updates per e-mail?
2. The attachment is 3 byte. Not a lot for a Microsoft update.
3. The sender address is “Microsoft “, hardly convincing.
4. The recipient is “To: “Microsoft Customer”@no.domain.spam”.

Curiosity killed the cat. I find myself tempted to download the attachment to find out A. whether Norman/Norton will handle it and B. which virus it is.

Ah me.

Ok, I will resist the temptation. I think.

Voice in my head: Vonda Shepard – I only want to be with you

So. My birthday is coming up. It’s on a Thursday, so if I am going to celebrate it’ll have to be Friday 11th. Fair enough.

Huh, what am I saying “if” for? Of course I’m going to celebrate! Surely that’s the reason the Good Lord gave us birthdays? The question isn’t “if?” but “where?” and “how?”.

I’m leaning towards The Dubliner as the best option all round (it’s basically between that and my flat, The Dubliner is my favourite place for an evening out, after all). As long as I book a table there is plenty of room, even on a Friday evening (as opposed to my flat which has room for only a very moderate party). The food is good (and I wouldn’t have to cook). The drink is very good. The atmosphere is brilliant and I can pretend to be in the British Isles. There are two drawbacks:

One: Though the drink is good it is also expensive.
Two: As people will have to pay their own meal and drinks, there can be no obligation to bring me birthday presents.

Actually, the latter is potentially a good test of people’s perceptiveness and inventiveness. I do love presents – have people noticed? And I do not care whether it cost them 50 øre (4 pence or so) or 500 kroner (40 pounds or so) – in fact, unreasonably costly presents disconcert me by putting me in a state of obligation to the giver (unless I know the person really well) – it really is the thought that counts. And by thought I do not mean: “See, I brought you a present”, but “See, brought you a present that I think you will like”. (Not to put pressure on anyone at all.)

Hm. I think I will start at The Dubliner. It means I can invite more people without worrying much about whether they’ll turn up or not. We can always move on to my place (or somewhere else, for that matter) if we find we’re a suitably sized party as the evening progresses. (Note aside: I know this is the opposite of what “normal” people do. “Normal” people start the party at home and then go out. But then “normal” people want to go clubbing or sit in places with cigarette smoke so dense you can’t see your hand in front of your face and music so loud you can’t hear yourself think, let alone the person talking to you. I don’t. My idea of a perfect evening is plenty of conversation with reasonably intelligent and funny people, and I prefer to be able to hear them and to speak without having to shout.)

Anyway, that’s decided, then: If you’re near enough Oslo to be able to make it to The Dubliner on 11 April, therefore, consider yourself invited. Please let me know if you intend to turn up – I do need to book a table.

It occurs to me that I probably have to send some e-mails as well, rather than expect that everyone I know reads this. Their loss entirely, of course, but there you are, I do know such people.

It also occurs to me that this is a good occasion for publishing the laws I once set down – as they were originally created in relation to birthdays, mostly:

Ragnhilds 1. lov: Man blir aldri for gammel for geletog. (One does not grow too old for jelly trains.)

Ragnhilds 2. lov: Det er aldri noen grunn til å spare på vaniljesausen. (There is never any reason to save the vanilla sauce.)

Ragnhilds 3. lov: Man skal, om overhodet mulig, ha bursdagsselskap. (One should, if at all possible, have a birthday party.)

Ragnhilds 4. lov: Det er alltid plass til en bok til. (There is always room for one more book.)

I’ve been trying to disprove the fourth – as the good little scientist that I am – for years. I have not succeeded yet.

Voice in my head: Kent – Allt som inte är musiken (that is the title, right? I don’t even like the song, so don’t expect me to know the title.)

Judge Huw Daniel chucked a juror out of court the other day for wearing an FCUK T-shirt. Hooray! About time, too. I could understand the popularity of French Connection’s advertising campaign when it first started years ago & for about 30 seconds it seeemed cheeky and fresh. Nowadays it is stale, pathetic, puerile and irritating enough to be offensive: I have no desire to see the letters FCUK on ugly people’s chests as I go about my daily business, nor to have to see the word on buses and advertisement hoardings. People who wear FCUK T-shirts are the kind of people who like to think of themselves as a little bit alternative, a little bit rock’n’roll ? we are talking middle-aged man, really, with a bald patch and, probably, a keen interest in female mud wrestlers. We are talking WNAKERS, aren’t we; isn’t it time French Connection came up with a new campaign?

As per usual I could happily have quoted all of India Knight’s weekly column, but I have restrained myself and will make do with that paragraph.

FCUK. Yeah. It was funny the first time I saw it. It was less funny the second time. Now we’re up to 1,573,343 times (rough estimate), and the joke is wearing a bit thin.

Voice in my head: EMINEM (although I don’t suppose it is, really. Who does sing the chorus?) – Sing for the Moment

Inspired by my tulips, I went looking for a Benny Anderson poem which I thought I’d copied to my “Commonplace Book“. It turned out I hadn’t. However, I found some other poems that really deserve a bit of attention, and so, inspired by that I have created a Commonplace Book, linked also from the Bookshelf (naturally). Just now the majority of the entries are in the various Scandinavian languages, but I’ll be adding to it pretty frequently.

I thought I’d use Movable Type for this as well, I’m increasingly impressed with the flexibility – just look at that wonderful index page! Sorted by category (well, poet) and all! I LOVE THIS TOOL. I thought about turning the comment functionality off, however, I decided against it and left it in. Your views on the poems are welcomed (well, by me, anyway, the poets may not give a damn).

Now all I need to do is locate that Benny Anderson poem. Hm.

Voice in my head: my own, reading Trond Botnen

I’ve just seen The Scarlet Pimpernel, the 1982 version with Anthony Edwards. It’s not terribly good, despite having Ian Mckellen as Chauvelin (and Anthony Edwards, of course). It’s not bad, it’s just not as good as it ought to be. It sent me in search of the BBC version with Richard E. Grant, which is better, on DVD. It’s available (well, the first series is), but it’s expensive enough to mean I’d have to pay tax on it, so I think I’ll wait. It’d almost be cheaper to buy a video player, and if I did I could watch the tapes I have from when it was aired in Britain.

Or I could watch the 1934 version with Leslie Howard, which I do have on DVD, instead. And that is excellent. In fact it’s so excellent it’s one of my favourite films ever.

But not tonight. I’m sleepy. I want to go to bed. So why am I still sitting here?

Voice on the stereo: Bruce Willis – Under the Boardwalk

That was nice. In an attempt to behold a large body of water I went for a walk down by the harbour, out round Akershus Festning. It was pretty good. I sat for a while on one of the quays, and that would have been excellent except for a band playing live outside Aker Brygge, mangling the lyrics to Handle Me With Care and drowning out the cries of the gulls and any sound of waves there might have been (though there wouldn’t have been much in any case). I still miss my beach. The Oslofjord is well enough in its way, but the Atlantic it is not, nor yet the British Channel.

But sun and fresh(ish) air was pleasant. I feel like doing something outdorsy tomorrow morning if the weather holds. The question is: what does one do in Oslo on a sunny Sunday morning? “Frognerseteren” is a word that springs to mind, but what does one do at Frognerseteren? Can one go for a (tolerably relaxed and non-strenous) walk? Who knows? Then there is “Oslomarka”, but it’s kinda big. Where does one walk from? Where does one walk to? Is there a view to be had at all, or is there just woods and such? Who knows?

Answers on a postcard (or preferably e-mail/sms, please, a postcard won’t get here in time).

I almost dropped in to The Dubliner for a pint on my way back, but managed to resist the temptation. I spent the money on a bunch of tulips instead, tulips being my favourite flowers by far, the only exception, perhaps, being dandelions (but they’re not in season and don’t do well in vases in any case). Of course, my real vase has fish in it, but I find a pint-glass works well.

Voice on the stereo: Alanis Morissette – 21 things I want in a lover