The big day

Mirthful

It’s here. The day of the Blogathon is here. I tried staying up late last night and sleeping in, but wasn’t exactly successful. I went to sleep at around 1 AM and woke up, wide awake, at nine. Eight hours is normally enough, of course, which is why I was wide awake, but it means instead of 24 hours I’ll be doing 30ish. Damn those time zones.

Never mind, I’ve had a good crack at sorting out nmwl.no (nothing to see there yet, though, so don’t bother, I’ll link properly when it’s ready). The major job still left before there’s any point in letting the rest of the board have a look is the style sheet. Running on defaults now, and let me tell you: It does not look pretty.

First, though, I need to pop into town and pick up some slide films (2, they’ve been in the shop for ages), hand in the ones from the holiday (6, I did get around to using the camera a bit, obviously) for development and go to the post office to get my ‘nephew’s’ birthday present sent off. His birthday was last Saturday, so I’m running late, but I’m pretty sure he won’t mind – not quite old enough to grasp the concept of late presents just yet, I suspect. Though in all other respects he’s a prodigy, of course ;)

And I need an extension lead.

Voice in my head: Alanis Morissette – Precious Illusions

Altså; hvis blikk kunne drepe

Mirthful

Broren min er født den dagen Norge slo England i fotball (ok, jeg vet, mer fotball) – dermed den eneste biten fotballtrivia jeg virkelig kan: Norge slo England i fotball 9. september 1981. I alle fall, dette var etter at fedre fikk være med på sykehuset, men siden mamma foretrakk å gå fram og tilbake i gangen til å begynne med satt pappa inne på venterommet og så på kampen. Det gjorde også en del sykepleiere. Etter noe tid kom mamma til døren og sa det var på tide å gå inn på rommet. Pappa sier da: “Kan du ikke vente litt, det er bare fem minutter igjen av kampen.”

Gjett om han fikk stygge blikk fra sykepleierne?

Det hører selvsagt til historien at av foreldrene mine er vel mamma den som er mest interessert i fotball… Og hun visste selvsagt at det var fleip. Det gjorde opplagt ikke de andre.

Køkultur

Mirthful

Når du er på Stansted, for eksempel, er det lett å se hvilken gate flyet til Norge står ved. Det er det der alle står trengt i en klynge opp mot inngangen. Ved de andre gatene står folk enten pyntelig i kø eller har fulgt de ansattes anmodning om å sitte ned og vente inntil de roper opp.

Køkultur, det var det det het, ja. Typisk fremmedord på norsk.

Engelskmennene derimot, er som kjent verdenmestre i køing. Før i tiden kunne du se artige små køer på alle engelske bussholdeplasser, der den første som kom stilte seg ved skiltet og den neste stilte seg ved siden av og så videre. Nå til dags har de viderutviklet dette systemet. Nå står man ikke lenger oppstillt i kø, men ikke la deg lure. Alle de andre vet utmerket godt hvem som kom før dem og hvem som kom etter dem. Og nåde deg dersom du, når bussen kommer, ikke går på etter riktig person. Dersom blikk kunne drepe, osv. (minner meg forresten på en historie, den tar jeg i neste innlegg…)

Vi har noe å lære.

My life as a… uhm?

Mirthful

A tricky Friday Five this week.

1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be?
Something to do with laughter. Not having any flashes of inspiration right now. Though I suppose “Something to Do with Laughter” could actually be a good title for a film. Nicely cryptic.

2. What songs would be on the soundtrack?
The best thing to do here is see the 100 songs list…

3. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why?
Oooh. Animated. Just because it’s cool.

4. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc?
Well, with animation we’ll have to go for voices, won’t we? Dustin Hoffman could do my grandfather quite well, I think. Other than that, hm… Well, I’d like Meg Ryan for me, but I’m not sure it would be such a brilliant piece of casting. My ex thought my father looked like Dr. Spock, but that would be somewhat irrelevant in an animation.

5. Describe the movie preview/trailer.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Ok, maybe not…

Brumangel

Mirthful

Eller kanskje helst overflod? Turistinformasjonen i Trondheim deler ut kart til turistene hvor to av bruene over Nidelva rett og slett mangler. Det er kanskje bedre enn å reklamere med bru der det ikke er noen, men allikevel litt flaut, må jeg si.

Tema for lørdagen

Mirthful

Ok, siden jeg nå har funnet på et tema for lørdagens Blogathon for den andre dagboka som går ut på å si pene ting om Norge, synes jeg at jeg må veie opp for nasjonalismen litt her. Så derfor blir temaet for den norske dagboka ‘Anglofili’.

Dette er et tema jeg føler meg kvalifisert til å snakke om, siden jeg har lidd av sykdommen i minst 20 år. ‘Lidd’ er forresten feil ord, jeg har det utmerket, men la oss nå ikke spikke fliser over sånt. Så fra 15:00 lørdag til 15:00 søndag kommer jeg til å fortelle dere i 48 episoder – en per halvtime – hvorfor Storbritannia er så fantastisk.

Jeg har lovet de engelskspråklige sponsorene en suvenir fra Norge, så da må det vel bli et eller annet ekte Britisk på denne siden. Dersom du sponser meg med minst 10 dollar (amerikanske sådanne) lover jeg å sende deg noe fra de britiske øyer.

Så får vi se hvordan dette går – jeg har i hvert fall planer om å ha det artig.

Ok, how’s this?

Mirthful

To tie in with my chosen charity I thought the theme ought to reflect what I like the most about Plan International’s way of working, which is how the feedback I get as a sponsor teaches me a lot about the way of life in my sponsored children’s area. So I thought: Why not write about Life in Norway. And I don’t mean My Life in Norway, either, except I will probably use my own memories for examples and anecdotes. As I’ve had a few visitors in the past who have come looking for ‘local flavour’ this will be a chance to put something out there for the next visitor of that sort.

So, come Saturday I will regale you with facts and stories regarding Life in Norway. Perhaps I can even make a case in favour of the UN theory that Norway is the best country in the world to live in, who knows? I will make sure to post a few Norwegian Lessons along the way, too, to prepare you for your future visits – because, of course, once you’ve read all I have to say you’ll be bound to want to visit ;) To tie in even more thoroughly with Plan’s work, I will aim to take childhood as the starting point for most of my posts.

And if you sponsor me with a minimum donation of 10 USD, I’ll even send you a little something from Norway (I haven’t yet decided what – watch this space).

I thought of a theme

Mirthful

I could taste a new whisky every half hour and write tasting notes… Ok, that’d make it 48 whiskies, and I don’t think I have that many (actually I’m sure I don’t). It also probably wouldn’t be very good for me. Forget I mentioned it.

Back to the drawing board, then.

Preparing for Saturday

Mirthful

and the Blogathon. I’m going to have to do it now, as I now have a sponsor (not sure whether to be pleased or mad). So you might as well sponsor me too. Go on. It’s a good cause, really!

Partly in participation of Saturday, I could tick off two items on my to-do list of Monday Morning last night – I’ve picked up and installed the broadband pack. Yay! No more agonisingly slow phone lines for me!

Now all I have to do is come up with a theme. I don’t have to come up with a theme, of course, but it occurs to me that a theme might help. I’m going to have to think of a whole lot of stuff to say, after all, and though it can sometimes be difficult to stop me talking that doesn’t mean I can necessarily ramble in writing non-stop (more or less) for 24 hours.

So, suggestions on a postcard please.

I’d rather not do anything as elaborate as the stuff Jason has planned (though I am going to check in on him on Saturday, this has got to be worth watching), but you know, something to get me started would be nice.