“Selfridges has been granted a licence to host weddings at its London shop and is hoping to stage its first wedding before Christmas. The first happy couple to marry there will not only say the vows in front of gawping shoppers but get a free honeymoon for up to 10 people (Why? will they be Mormons?) and a reception hosted by the store.” India Knight in The Sunday Times (you have to register to read the whole thing – it’s free and, if you tick the right boxes, spam free).

Good grief.

Oh, what a lovely weekend.

Les Mis, of course, was wonderful. The concert version is nothing in comparison with the theatrical version, but when there is no theatrical version to be had, the lovely songs sung by magnificent singers is a pretty satisfying second-best. If I felt inclined to quarrel, it would be with the people who decided which bits to cut in order to make it “concert”. So many of my favourite bits are odd lines that are sung between the “songs”, and some of these are also quite useful in that they explain what’s actually going on… The scene where Ternardier tries to rob Valjean and recognises him and reveals him to Jevert, for example. All gone. So Javert’s brusting into “There, out in the darkness, a fugitive running…” seems somewhat unmotivated. As far as you can tell from what’s gone on before he hasn’t seen Valjean for 10 years or so and so why should he suddenly go on about him now? The cut, also, deprives us of Ternardier’s delightful “In the absence of a victim, dear inspector, may I go? But remember when you’ve nicked him – it was me what told you so!” – the first part sung in a very obsequious tone, changing in the latter part to triumphant. Ah. Not to mention that they’d cut the line that sets me off crying: Marius saying “Oh God! It’s everywhere!” just before A Little Fall of Rain. *Sob* What a good thing I have the 3CD full version…

Due to Linda having stayed a sufficient number of nights at Rica hotels while working for the railway, we were able to stay at Grand Hotel for free, which was great fun. It really is Grand. The double bed was huge, it was actually wider than it was long, which, it must be said, is pretty unusual for hotel rooms. And to be able to go down to have breakfast at Grand Café… I could get used to a life of luxury, I assure you.

Saturday we went shopping. My main expense was a new filofax – or a “Grieg Plan”, rather (much cheaper) – splashing out on a real leather one… I came home to a message on the phone from someone who’s found the other one – so now I get the best of both worlds: An excuse to buy a new one and my old one (with all the information) back…

Having gone out after the concert on Friday (to a rather nice bar called Coco) we opted for a quiet night in on Saturday – we went to Dordy’s (friend of Linda’s) and saw the whole of the BBC/A&E Pride & Prejudice (yes, the one with Colin Firth). Being at the stage where I pretty much know it by heart, I got a bit of knitting done on my scarf.

And then Sunday morning(ish) we saw Kate & Leopold on dvd. Nice movie. Very nice man. Mmmm. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. Nice movie. “Feelgood” being an accurate description. Just the sort of thing when you feel you need a little help in order to believe in destiny and Mr. Right.

Then Linda cut my hair. Yay! I have short(er) hair again! Going to the hairdresser is not something I do. I think it’s boring and I resent having to spend money on it. However, I don’t like it when my hair gets too long, so I do need to get it cut every now and again.

Unfortunately, weekends have a sad tendency to end. If I were in charge we’d have four-day weekends. But we don’t. So it’s Monday. Ah, whatever, it’s not that bad. I have a pretty interesting job now. Sure, I’d rather be home reading, but then I’d rather be home reading pretty much all of the time, and I’m sure I’d get sick of it after a while (though possibly a long while).

It’s remembrance day, everyone. Sit back, take a deep breath and for a minute try to focus on all the reasons why we should not go to war…

Voice in my head: Avril Lavigne singing I’m With You

Idea stolen from Heather via Donna

20 skills I take for granted but that are actually pretty nifty and not something everyone can do – I can:

1. Switch between English and Norwegian at the drop of a hat, and not always notice that I have done so.
2. Code in C.
3. Swim.
4. Read. (Quickly.)
5. Infer general priciples from one situation (real or fictional) and apply them in other circumstances.
6. Learn things by heart with next to no effort.
7. Refrain from yelling at people who annoy me.
8. Draw.
9. Do reasonably accurate and quick sums in my head – enough to figure out my share of the restaurant bill and to alert me if someone’s overcharging me.
10. Keep more than one line of thought in my head at once (e.g. concurrently read and sing along to music or type and have a conversation).
11. Buy good gifts.
12. Remember people’s birthdays.
13. Sew, with or without a pattern.
14. Take apart a video or music cassette and put it back together again in working order.
15. Say “my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends” in sign language (yeah, very useful).
16. Drum my fingers (this appears to be one of those things you either can or can’t do – I suppose it might be possible to learn, but it seems to come naturally to some people and not to others)
17. Write HTML.
18. Touch my toes (yes, despite being hopelessly out of shape I can still reach my toes with my legs straight).
19. Win the wine lottery at work very often (is this a skill? I dunno – but I won again today and it’s getting ridiculous, I think I’ve won every other week so far).
20. Make a mean chocolate cake.

Online journals must be the curse of people trying to locate actual information on the net. This search string on google, for example: “Beethoven Fact file of his life born died etc.“. You wouldn’t really expect my journal to be very helpful to the person who entered it, would you? Well, I come out fifth. And results 1 and 2 are journals, too.

Someone’s got the radio on at work, and it’s really distracting. I like listening to music while I work, but it has to be of my own chosing, the fact that it’s currently playing Bob Dylan doesn’t actually help (much). Please turn the damn thing off, I can provide all the distraction necessary myself, thank you very much.

Phew, just sorted out my contents insurance. The old one expired a few days ago, and I haven’t paid for a renewal because I wanted to change to a different company (not happy with the service from the previous one). But getting around to getting in touch with an alternative company is a different matter. Suddenly realised I was uninsured and started feeling panicky, but now I just had a confirmation e-mail to the effect that I’m covered again. Phew.

Norwegian lesson of the day:

tenke koffert, v., literally “thinking suitcase”: To see the double entendre even where there is none intended. Probably derived from the popularised version of Freud’s theories, viz. all images are in some way sexual to the subconscious – anything elongated and solid being “male”, anything hollow being “female”.

Voice in my head: Bob Dylan singing It Ain’t Me Babe (yes, the radio’s off. but my head’s still on, so to say)

1. Did you vote in your last elections?
Yes.

2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?
Not really, but the Norwegian system doesn’t give us “my MP” or “my congressman”. I know roughly who’s in parliament, though.

3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?
Yes, several quite recently, via e-mail, to protest about the possible shutting down of two tramlines in Oslo.

4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration?
Yes.

5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?
Not political, no.

I’ve lost my filofax. I might have forgotten it somewhere, or mislaid it at home (it’s not something I normally leave anywhere that isn’t in sight, though – table, yes, desk, yes, chair or sofa, yes, but it’s none of those places and since I just tidied the other day for Linda’s visit, there aren’t the usual papers lying about for the purpose of hiding stuff). The last time I know I had it was at The Dubliner when I was about to put it in my bag as we were leaving, thinking “Mustn’t forget that”. Question is: Did I actually put it in the bag, or didn’t I? Must stop by The Dubliner to find out. The other possibility is that some sneaky person stuck their hand in my bag on the bus and extracted it in the hope that it would contain money. It didn’t.

I will try to refrain from thinking evil thoughts about my fellow men until I have had a chance to check whether I did indeed get distracted and leave the stupid thing on the table at The Dubliner. Also need to do a fresh check at home. Could it have fallen behind the sofa, I wonder?

Voice in my head: Fantine – I Dreamed a Dream

I have had several hits from people searching for different combinations of the words “Bjørn Eidsvåg Lisa Nilsson Mysteriet deg”. This is interesting. As an example, the unfortunate person who searched for the song’s lyrics on google had only one hit – this page. Which is a pity, because the lyrics are not here. I could put them up, but I’m afraid that would be infringing copyright somewhat. I can, however, wholeheartedly reccommend buying the album (Tålt). Platekompaniet have it at a reasonable price. I can also tell you that I will be at the concert in Oslo on 8 December, and I hope to see you there. Bjørn Eidsvåg in concert is, in my experience, worth catching.

Another thing I can wholeheartedly recommend (it’s so nice when one does not have to keep splitting off chunks of one’s heart, isn’t it?) is “Bend it like Beckham”. It’s the perfect film. Just the right amount of humour, just the right amount of sentiment, just the right amount of romance and just the right amount of “message”. Go see it. Have a laugh. Enjoy the exquisite cutting-room work towards the end.

I went to the film with Pia, who I hadn’t seen for ages (or, at least, years). We used to be in student politics together, way back when, and it was great fun meeting up again. It’s always a kind of relief to reaquaint myself with people with whom it’s possible to have real conversations. They are few and far between. One should cherish them like the treasures they are and not – stupidly – lose touch. I was also delighted to realise that this means I now know someone in Oslo who will be sincerely pleased to get an invitation to play TP (rather than pretend to want to play the game in order to humour me – cut it out, people, I can tell the difference. I might not be able to tell you’re lying the first time you say “That’d be fun!” but I can pretty much tell after you’ve answered a couple of questions wrong whether you hate it because it makes you feel stupid or love it for the fact that you just learnt something. They are both valid reactions, but the former takes the fun out of the game and I’d rather you just said “could we do something else instead, please”). This is excellent news. I am chuffed to bits (except my heart, which is whole, and wholly in favour of Bjørn Eidsvåg and Bend it like Beckham – sorry, I got carried away. I will stop now).

More from the excellent news department: This is the week when Linda and I get to see (and, more importantly, hear) Les Miserables at Oslo Spectrum. This is excellent in several ways. Firstly, the simple fact of going to see Les Mis again, even if it is the concert version. Also, Linda will be here all weekend, which can’t be other than ecxellent, whichever way you look at it. Thirdly, it means I have to tidy the flat, which I never seem to get around to except when I’m having visitors.

We’ve had the Les Mis tickets since March, the first day they went on sale. When turning over a leaf in my diary last week to check the possibility of a meeting tomorrow, I almost jumped at seeing “LES MISERABLES” is large letters in the Friday slot. It’s been “ages away” for so long (since March) that it’s hard to believe it’s only a couple of days now… There is only one thing which could ruin the weekend, but that would ruin it indeed. Linda and I are of one mind on this one: If Javert is not up to scratch we’ll probably scream (with fury, not delight). Surely he will be? I have no idea who’s slated to sing Javert, but they can’t be so cruel as to get a nicompoop for the part, surely? Hm, quick search reveals person slated for Javert is Michael McCarthy, about whom I know nothing. However, at least he plays the role in London, which must be a good sign. Also, he’s Irish, which has to be good. With that background I will at least be spared a Javert with a Scandinavian accent. The possibilty had worried me. An uncredited quote on the official webpage says “…voice as smooth, dark and rich as a pint of Guinness”. Which sounds nice. Very nice, in fact – just thinking about the impliactions gave me a tingling sensation down my spine. Let’s hope it’s true, then.

My cup floweth over with excellent news today: Nettavisen reports that for women, both alchohol and coffee actually improves your memory. Both results come from American research, in the case of the one on alchohol the project has been running for 12 years. I quote (though translated): “The teetotallers had the worst test results, whereas those who drank regularly – even large amounts – did best.” Coffee also makes you smarter (if you’re a woman) – the women in the study who drank between 1 cup a month to 5 a day did much better than those who had no coffee. Education, hormone treatment and ** did not have any marked effects on the results. However, the researchers found no proof that coffee has the same effect on men’s brains. Interesting. Up to five cups a day? It doesn’t say anything about what happens if you drink more. Does that give you overload and cause decline, I wonder?

Tinka linked to the typelogic site in passing, for which I’m grateful. I’ve done several of the type description tests and always out as INTJ, and this site has excellent explanations of the different types. The INTJ characteristics are certainly eerily familiar. It is, interestingly, the same type as Jane Austen. The question is: How do they know? Which of the various perceptions of Jane Austen is this profile based on? The fact that Mr. Darcy is listed as a fictional INTJ may tell us something, but I’m not entirely sure what.

Voice in my head: We’re back to Alanis Morisette after a short break (courtesy of Shania). My mental jukebox has been playing selections from Under Rug Swept all weekend. Currently it’s “At that particular time”.

C-c-c-cold. It is quite definitely winter. It’s not so bad in Oslo, but at my grandparents’ (where I’ve spent the weekend) it was -12 yesterday morning. Tiddely-pom. Went for a walk with the camera (yeah! I have a new 75-300mm zoom lens! Go me!) and had to sit in front of the fire to thaw out afterwards. My toes are normally all right, it’s the knees, really. And fingers. Time to dig out some more wintery clothes. Also need to get some gloves that I can cut the fingertips off for photography purposes.

Voice in my head: Shania Twain singing Don’t Even Think About It

If you’re not regularly running AdAware, you should be. It’s excellent, and it’s free. I don’t object (much) to people monitoring my activities from reasons of paranoia, but I do object to people making money off me without telling me that they are. Kill that spy-ware!

Of course, if you are paranoid, it’s even better (the program, I mean, the fact that you’re paranoid is not a good thing).

Also, here’s a treat for those of you who read Norwegian: The Odalizer.

Well, whaddaya know, the Friday Five ties nicely in with the recent spurt of religious confession, doesn’t it?

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
Kinda, sorta, well… My grandmother (paternal) attempted to raise me in the Lutheran church (which is the denomination of the Norwegian state church). And I went to Sunday school (when possible) and was confirmed, so I guess there was a major influence. I’ve never been quite sure what my parents attempted to raise me as – they seem to have let me think it out for myslef, mostly, for which I’m grateful.

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
Weeeelll. Not Lutheran, as such. I don’t go to Lutheran churces, anyway, except to accompany my grandparents at Christmas. When I do go to church, I prefer Anglican services, especially Evensong.

3. What do you think happens after death?
Heaven, of some sort, for those who have tried to do right (regardless of religion). Oblivion or possibly “remoteness of God” or something like that for the few people who obviously deserve hell. No eternal damnation with hellfire and little devils poking you with prongs, though.

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
The Lord’s Prayer

5. Do you believe people are basically good?
No. I believe all people have an innate sense of what is wrong or right, and that the majority long for “right” rather than “wrong”. I do believe that the people who do evil chose to do so against their better judgement.

I score better at Orthodox Quaker than at Liberal Quaker? Huh?

Voice in my head: a squeaky little thing saying “go home, go home, go home”