Ah, how lovely to be back in the city and breathe some exhaust… The weather has been criminally good over Easter and we’ve been trampling around in the forest and breathing unpolluted air so that by nine in the evening we’ve been well and truly ready for some sleep. Of course, going to bed before ten means waking up before seven (at least it does if you’re me) and so the next day, eight in the evening sees me yawning my head off. Oh well.

Voice in my head: What a Girl Wants (who sings it? Don’t tell me, I don’t really want to know. Going to put some music on now to (hopefully) supersede it.)

This or that?

1. File taxes as early as possible, or wait until the last possible minute?
I do everything at the last possible minutes, so why not taxes?

2. File electronically, or mail paper forms?
Electronically, of course.

3. Prepare your own taxes, or have someone do it for you?
Well, the authorities pretty much does it for me, I just sort of glance at the numbers and check that they look allright…

4. Are you a saver or a spender?
Oh, spender, definitely.

5. Do you prefer to carry cash, or pay with plastic (credit/debit cards), or by check?
Plastic.

6. You’re broke and desperately need a job, but the only places that are hiring are retail or fast food places. Which would you pick?
Retail. Fast food, urgh.

7. Keeping track of your money: are you more meticulous or careless about it?
Careless…

8. What do you do if you find yourself with a lot of change weighing down your purse/pocket/wallet? Do you try to spend it to *get rid of it*, or do you put it in a jar or a piggy bank?
I make sure I pay with small change next time I have a chance, but I don’t go out of my way to buy something in order to get rid of it.

9. Which form of fake money do you like better…Monopoly money or those chocolate coins covered with gold foil?
Chocolate. Mmm. Chocolate.

10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You find a wallet containing $5,000 in cash, as well as several credit cards and the owner’s drivers’ license. Your rent is due tomorrow and you’re short $200. Do you take the money (some or all of it) and mail back the wallet anonymously…or do you return the wallet with all contents intact?
Return it intact, and hope for a finder’s fee…

It’s going to be expensive to be restless if my walks are going to start ending up at Bar & Cigar with a couple of whiskies. Oh, well. At least I got to read the Saturday edition of Dagens Næringsliv for free (though, granted, it would have been a lot cheaper just to buy the stupid paper).

I came back home to see the not unexpected but still disappointing exit of Ainslie from Fame Academy, and experienced a moment of panic as I realised next week’s showdown is the showdown. “But, but, but… I’m not going to be here! I’m not going to be anywhere near a tv, not to mention a tv with BBC Prime! And I don’t have a VCR! Help!” The panic subsided as I realised I’d be back here in time for the rerun Sunday afternoon. Phew.

There’s nothing on television tonight either. What’s up with that?

And I’m still restless. But no, I’m not going for another walk. Not today.

Voice on the stereo: Voice of the Beehive – I Say Nothing

55 channels and nothing on. I kid you not. There’s a Parky I’ve already seen and that’s it. And I am restless as hell anyway, so it might be that which makes every single programme seem unutterably boring.

Then again I got hold of Marc Almond “Treasure Box” second-hand today, so I can play Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart over and over again at full blast.

Still. Restless.

Perhaps I should go for a walk. It’s not exactly warm outside, but I could wrap up.

Voice on the stereo: (you guessed it) Marc Almond – Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart

Yesterday was good. Lots of people said Happy Birthday. I got things done at work. I left work at a reasonable time. I managed to book a table at The Dubliner, in the nick of time as they were almost full up. I bought myself a bottle of Ardbeg 17 yr old at Oslo City. Free Record Shop at Gunerius had started selling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets a day early (are they allowed to do that?) so I now have the DVD. Yay. I almost walked on to the set of Mors Elling when I got home, and got to see one take, which was kinda cool (seeing it, that is, the take in itself was pretty boring). The new Nemi magazine was in my mailbox when I got home. Fame Factory was on and I had pizza and Strongbow. I did a bit of sewing and lounged around a bit. Had some birthday phonecalls. I even did the washing up. Great day, in fact.

The only thing that didn’t behave quite as expected was the weather. My almost perfect track record now has a flaw. Boo-hoo. It was fine for most of the day, but when I got home there was snow in the air. Not a lot, but still… Snow! I ask you! This is April, for goodness sake! Overnight the ground has actually gone white, and it’s snowing out now as well. It won’t stick, of course, but it’s a bit disappointing. Not only had I decided that spring was well and truly here, which I will now have to reconsider, but why did it have to start yesterday? The weather is always nice on my birthday. I can remember it raining a bit in the afternoon once in ten years or so. In Worthing three years ago it was ridiculous – it had been rainy and cold and sleety and windy and unpleasant for days. My birthday arrives. I’m on the couch with a cold, not stirring outdoors, but the weather? Bright, bright sunshine. Next day it was back to sleet and wind. But, as I said, that track record is looking less good following yesterday’s return to winter. Oh, well. One can’t have everything, I suppose. But if I am to go by the saying my grandmother insisted on, viz. “if the weather is nice on your birthday it means you’ve been good all year”, what, I wonder, have I done this year that is so particularly bad?

Voice in my head: Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

From the American version of Pop Idol, some people are just fated to have their dreams shattered…

It may be wrong to laugh, but really, one can’t help oneself sometimes.

Voice in my head: well, you know… (please! someone! play something else before I go mad)

This week’s Friday Five:

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
Band? Well, I saw Lillebjørn Nilsen on the Orginal Nilsen tour in, hm, must’ve been 1983 or something. I think I was twelve. Might’ve been earlier.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
Pick one, you mean? Nilsen is still a favourite.

3. What’s your favorite song?
Favourite song, ever? These questions do not get any easier as we go along, do they? Possibly You Win Again (The Bee Gees)

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
Guitar, it’s portable and good for sing-alongs…

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
Bach. I’d like to hear him play his own music.

(Well, apart from the letter from the tax office.)

Sunniva sent me this:

Voice in my head: Billy Ocean – Love Really Hurst Without You

Happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me-ee,
happy birthday to me!

Just so that’s said.

Still more fun and games. The Thursday Thumb Twiddler.

1. If you could script the basic plot for the dream you will have tonight, what would it be?
I would want it to be as bizarre as possible, preferably involving a lot of people I know in completely absurd context, possibly with some people I haven’t thought about for years cropping up. It’s dreams of that kind I enjoy the most when occasionally I have them. Move over Salvador Dali, make way for the dream surrealist…

2. What one thing do you personally believe all people should do or experience at least once in their lifetime, just to say they’ve done it?
Tough one. Well, everybody should try to read Shakespeare. And I mean really try, as in: Make an effort, read several plays, not just read the first lines of a play and give up. Not just to say they’ve done it but to make sure they don’t miss out from negligence.

3. If you knew it would, within twenty years, halve the incidence of violent crime, would you want to eliminate all physical violence from television and film?
Of course. I don’t actually need to see people beating each other up, you know. I’d miss the swashbuckling scenes, but I could live without them.