The meaning of life

A beautiful entry at Wanderlost, all about reading which is what makes it beautiful. Those bookshelves sound perfectly normal to me, but then I’m probably not the right person to ask. He has a new word for us, too: Bibliovoyeurism – wanting to know what everyone else is reading. I too crane my neck to catch the title and author of the paperbacks in my fellow travellers’ hands. How could you not wonder?

Ok, then

What with the questions being short this week and the answers potentially interesting, I will do today’s Monday Mission despite having almost decided to drop it off my meme list…

1.What is the difference between spirituality and religion?
Spirituality is having an awareness that there is another sort of reality which reaches beyond the physical reality of science. Religion is a formulated set of beliefs about that reality. You can have spirituality without religion, but religion without spirituality would be like the shop-fronts in old westerns, two-dimensional and fake.

2. What is the difference between someone listening to what you say and hearing what you say?
I’d say “listening” means actually taking something in and trying to understand it and react to it, whereas “hearing” simply implies that the ear picks the sound up and sends the signals to your brain, leaving your brain free to ignore them or deal with them depending on its (or your) whim. I know people who’d put those definitions the other way around, though.

3. What’s the difference between a Father, and a Daddy?
Well, I call my father the equivalent of “daddy” in Norwegian (“Pappa”), and “father” sounds a lot more formal to me when I say it. It depends on the person who says it, though, I know people who’ve been used to saying “father” all their lives and it does not sound formal in their mouths. So I don’t really think there is a difference.

4. What’s the difference between being married and living together?
Marriage is a whole different sort of commitment in my eyes, and living together just seems so much more casual. I do, however, recognise that some people are unable to subscribe to the various societal forms of marriage and “just” live together but feel as deep a commitment to their relationship as a marriage would entail to me.

5. What’s the difference between growing up and growing old?
Growing up is about taking responsibility for your own actions. Growing old is one of two things: A. losing your childishness and growing stale in your thoughts or B. the physical fact of wrinkles, hairloss, bad hearing, achy joints and shaky legs.

6. What’s the difference between getting what you want and getting what you need?
Big. Obviously. What you need might not be what you want at all.

7. What’s the difference between punishment and discipline?
Real discipline should be able to exisist without punishment, it’s got to do with respect and responsibility. Punishment should act as a reminder that discipline has been broken, not as the only incentive to keep it.

Voice in my head: Fleetwood Mac – I wanna be with you everywhere (which is not the answer to the bonus question, but does include the line “Can you hear me calling out your name?”)

Mail filter snafu

I was attempting something clever with my mail filters this weekend which didn’t quite work as expected. When I logged on to webmail this morning the “clever” thing automatically deleted (and I mean deleted, not “put in trash folder”) all mail.

(And I get paid for getting computers to work? Honestly.)

So if you sent me mail between 5pm CET yesterday and now, could you please resend it?

Voices in my head: Ronan Keating and Lulu – We’ve got tonight (they were playing it downstairs in the coffee shop, I’m starting to regret stopping off for coffee)

Lykken

Ni av ti nordmenn regner altså seg selv som minst “ganske” lykkelige. Det er jo hyggelig. Det var da forsåvidt også det jeg haket av for i nettavisens avstemmning. Jeg er da ganske lykkelig, stort sett. Meget lykkelig, glimtvis. Kanskje jeg ville bli meget lykkelig hele tiden dersom jeg giftet meg (ikke mas, jeg jobber med saken) og fikk meg hus, hage, barn, volvo og hund? Statistisk sett burde det altså hjelpe (andelen som valgte alternativet “meget lykkelig” opp fra 6% for enslige til 25% for gifte). Gressplen vil jeg ikke ha, det ville jeg blitt svært ulykkelig av, men hage hadde ikke vært å forakte, man må jo ikke ha gressplen. Volvo må man kanskje ikke ha heller, men det høres så riktig ut sånn i familiesammenheng. Etter noen timer på toget i NSBs “Familievogn” lurer jeg på om ikke hund står høyere på ønskelisten enn barn, men det er vel annerledes når det er ens egne, kanskje? (Jeg håper da det, ellers lyver alle de som har barn og sier de er “meget” eller “ganske” lykkelige. Det var nemlig ikke gøy. Ikke. I. Det. Hele. Tatt.) De er da søte, alle de små barna, men de burde kommet utstyrt med mute-knapp, mangelen på dette er helt klart en designfeil på høyde med Microsofts beste. Forresten er jeg urettferdig, den mest irriterende personen i hele vognen var nemlig mammaen som satt bak meg og opprettholdt en kontinuerlig flom av meningsløse ord hovedsakelig rettet mot sønnen på – tja – ti (?). Sistnevnte svarte stort sett i enstavelsesord, og det hadde jeg stor sympati for. Så hvorfor klage på barna? Kanskje design-feilen egentlig består i mangel på av-knapp på egne ører?

Tilbake til det egentlige temaet… Det er interessant at nettavisen har valgt å illustrere sin artikkel med bilder av Martha og Ari. Er de lykkelige, mon tro? Bryr jeg meg? (Riktig svar er henholdsvis “Ingen anelse” og “Ikke særlig”.)

Jeg lurer forresten litt på de tallene angående gifte og samboende: Var de som ble spurt alene med intervjueren, mon tro? Ellers vil jeg stille meg tvilende til nøyaktigheten…

Intervjuer: Vil du si at du er “Meget lykkelig”, “Ganske lykkelig”, “Ganske ulykkelig” eller “Meget ulykkelig”?
Han: Nei, jeg vet ikke helt… “Meget ulykkelig” er kanskje mest korrekt.
Hun: Hva!?! Hvordan kan du si noe sånt? Vi har nettopp feiret fem års bryllupsdag og har akkurat fått en nydelig sønn og så sier du at du er “Meget ulykkelig”?!?

Du ser problemet?

Uansett, ni av ti? At ni av ti ikke har det så verst er jo vel og bra, men at de faktisk går rundt og vet om det selv også? Det er da ikke så ille? Kanskje FN har rett i at Norge er et bra land å bo i allikevel?

Thanks, Bjørn

My top 20 referral words still include “Mysteriet” and “deg”. Which means Bjørn Eidsvåg and Lisa Nilsson are responsible for a lot of my random traffic. Which is nice of them.

(Incidentally, if you find this entry looking for the lyrics to Mysteriet deg, they’re here.)

Hair

A late and hairy Friday Five this morning:

1. Is your hair naturally curly, wavy, or straight? Long or short?
Straight as nails. It’s about chin-length at the moment, and has been for a few years now (it’s only longer occasionally when I haven’t gotten round to cutting it for a while).

2. How has your hair changed over your lifetime?
Well, it’s been almost waist-length (that was a pain) and a few centimetres short, and it’s been a lot of interesting colours (purple, for example, and pitch black – not a great success) – you could say I’ve experimented a bit.

3. How do your normally wear your hair?
The only way it’s really possible to wear it is hanging straight. Whenever I try something else it’s usually hanging straight again after an hour or two, so I normally can’t be bothered.

4. If you could change your hair this minute, what would it look like?
If I had the colouring to go with it I’d quite like long, slightly curly hair of that distinctly Irish darkish red sort of colour, but as it is I’ll keep my own, thanks.

5. Ever had a hair disaster? What happened?
Weeeel. I once used a dark red (“do not on lighter shades”) wash-in-wash-out satchet to colour my hair pink for the evening. Unfortunately, the wash-in-wash-out didn’t. Wash out, I mean. So my hair was still quite shockingly pink on Monday morning when I showed up for work. That was interesting.

Voice in my head: Erik Bye – Skomværsvalsen

Kulturkollisjon

Jeg liker dagens Stang ut i Nettavisen:

Innbragte mann i dameklær?

Tittel i dagbladet.no etter at politiet i Haugesund tirsdag kveld innbragte en afrikaner i tradisjonell drakt med sarong.

Spørsmålet er selvsagt om “tradisjonell drakt” for afrikanere (hva slags afrikaner?) inkluderer plagget “sarong” (som er et indonesisk ord), eller om de strengt tatt burde kalt det f.eks. “kanga”. Desverre er ikke Dagbladet så vennlige å trykke bilde av “mannen i dameklær”, så det er ikke godt å vite hva han faktisk hadde på seg. På den annen side virker dette som en litt perifer opplysning i utgangspunktet – siden saken dreier seg om et brutalt drap synes jeg muligens ikke at det at en av de fem som ble innbragt hadde klær som overrasket politiet og/eller journalisten har så mye i overskriften å gjøre.

Men det er nå meg, da.

Hva om…

Harry Potter utgaven av Onsdags Hva Om…

(Jeg har ingen anelse hva de forskjellige navnene er i den norske utgaven av Harry Potter, så jeg har ikke oversatt disse – jeg hadde sannsynligvis latt være uansett, forresten.)

1. Hva om du fikk velge hvilket hus du ville være i?
Jeg pleier å ende i Hufflepuff på sånne nett-tester, og det er forsåvidt greit. Men alt utenom Slytherin ville vel være greit, tenker jeg…

2. Hva om du fikk velge en person fra bøkene å være sammen med?
Mmm. Wood… Men det er bare filmenes feil, tror ikke jeg ville vært så interessert uten bildet av skuespilleren i hodet. Charlie Weasley, kanskje?

3. Hva om du fikk velge hva slags tryllestav du fikk — hvor lang ville den være, hva ville den vært lagd av og hva ville vært inne i den?
“The wand chooses the wizard” – jeg har ingen anelse. Ok, hva med: 10 tommer, kirsebærtre, ganske fleksibel og med en kjerne av “dragon heartstring”?

4. Hva om du måtte velge et dyr å ta med til Hogwarts som kjæledyr, hvilket dyr, og hvorfor?
Ugle, tenker jeg – de er stilige og nyttige…

5. Hva om du måtte gjennom en av oppgavene fra bok 4 – hvilken og hvorfor?
Tja. Labyrinten ville vært interessant. Men jeg vil helst slippe…

My favourite subject

This or that is all about reading this week:

1. Newspapers or magazines?
Both or neither. I don’t read newspapers much and I hardly ever read magazines.

2. Books-on-tape or regular books?
Regular mostly, but I listen to audio books a fair bit, too. They’re good for when you have to (or want to) keep your eyes on other things – like redecorating or tidying (or on the train).

3. Paperback or hardcover?
Hardcover for preference, paperback for convenience. If I’m going to lug books around (and I do, all the time), paperbacks are undeniably more convenient – but I still prefer the feel of hardcovers, and they look better on the shelf, too.

4. Fiction or non-fiction?
Both, but I read more fiction.

5. Sci-Fi/Fantasy or romance novels?
Both, for widely differing purposes. I read moderate amounts of Sci-Fi/fantasy, just like I read moderate amounts of other “genre” novels – like crime – but I do read them as novels. Romance novels, on the other hand, are like brain candy – I read them as an alternative to mindless films/tv-series, something to relax to, something that engages as few brain cells as possible and leaves you with a feeling that the world is a good place (they live happily ever after).

6. Borrow from library or buy books (either new or used)?
Buy, mostly. It’s hard to get the books I want at the library, and I reread books all the time (see below) so it’s convenient to be able to keep them on the shelf rather than having to return them.

7. Subscribe to magazines or buy on newsstand?
I rarely subscribe because I rarely care to have every issue of a magazine, I tend to pick one that looks interesting up at a newsstand whenever I feel like it. I currently subscribe to the new Nemi albums and I would have liked to subscribe to Burda magazine but they’re making it difficult by asking for the subscription fee in Euros and writing to me in German (why?).

8. Current best-sellers or classic literature?
A nice mixture of both, though I rarely read a bestseller while it’s a bestseller, I tend to be a year or two behind, but if it’s an author I enjoy I’ll get the book when it first comes out.

9. Read books once, or re-read favorites every so often?
Reread. I reread almost every book I enjoy at least once. If I don’t it’s either because it’s too demanding (emotionally or intellectually – still haven’t gotten around to rereading Ulysses, for example) or because it makes such a strong point the first time around that rereading is uneccessary. American Psycho is an example of both of those reasons (emotionally taxing, main points too well remembered), I might decide to reread it some day, but I doubt it, somehow.

10. Here in the U.S., we have two hot best-sellers…former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s memoirs, and the new Harry Potter book (coming out June 21). If you had to read one, which one…Hillary or Harry? Why?
‘Scuse me? Stupid question. No way am I reading Hillary’s book. No way am I not reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

De svensker er gale, de

“Stumtjener” er jo forsåvidt et ganske artig ord på norsk, men bildene det fremkaller i hodet, sånn hvis du tar ordets “egentlige” betydning – en stum tjener – er liksom ganske forenelig med det navngitte objektets formål.

De svensker, derimot… Jeg var på Mix-mix i Arvika på lørdag og der sto to stumtjenere med påklistret gul plakat:

“Tamburmajor 249,-”

Tamburmajor? Tamburmajor?!

Språk er gøy, er det.