Signs of Fall already coming on strong. I suspect an early winter. Argh.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
September 11, 2001
10 years ago today. Woke up to the news of a bomb or something in NYC, then saw the planes, and the buildings on fire, and things got worse from there. I was due to start a brand new job the next day and sincerely wondered if I need bother.
Rich called from South Texas, he was with clients. The clients were stranded due to the no-fly rule and needed to get back to Canada ASAP. Rich was volunteered to drive them back. He was leaving that day. it would take at least a week. At the time he had already been gone over a month, managing his crew, so it would be at least 6 weeks of him having been gone by the time he would get back. I was kind of used to it, but it seemed so much worse this time. And I was worried about him driving all the way to Canada from South Texas.
As the day progressed i got more and more stressed. I felt kind of wierd. It all seemed so surreal. It looked like movie footage but I knew it wasn't, but my brain couldn't really reconcile that fact.
At one point I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed a fullness in my upper lip that was unusual. As the day progressed my upper lip got bigger...and bigger. Soon it was about 4 times its normal size. I couldn't talk normally...I sounded like a character out of Fat Albert.
I called my friend Julia and asked her if maybe she could take me the the hospital, as I was having some strange reaction to something. She kindly accompanied me, after teasing me about my pronunciation of things. It *was* kind of funny, really.
The hospital was not too busy, everyone was glued to the TV, but they saw me and quickly and half-heartedly diagnosed stress related hives and gave me some anti-anxiety meds. They helped, but not fast enough to get my upper lip down by the next day.
The next morning I showed up at the new workplace at 9 sharp, with a gigantically puffy upper lip, (my new boss said, curiously,that I looked different from the interview), a husband on a cross-country international road trip for two weeks, and a country that would never be the same again.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
12 things at once
While I type this my husband is talking to me. I'm also thinking about work and the day I had. And I'm typing and running water for a bath.
Multi tasking? I'm your girl.
Today I took a young coworker of mine out and showed her how the old pros vintage shop. It was fun. I handed her stuff, told her to try it, and I'll be damned if it didn't look awesome on her. It was a perfect storm of style, shopping, my practiced sense of fashion style and history and her young person sense of funk and adventurousness. She was impressed by my ability to find the good stuff and I was impressed by her instant acknowledgement if something worked or didn't.
Really, I should be a personal shopper or a stylist. I can just TELL if something works.
Vintage shopping in Oslo can be really awesome. Prices here are cheap for old stuff (Norwegians don't really go for used stuff) and the selection is pretty good. Especially, oddly, for leather.
Multi tasking? I'm your girl.
Today I took a young coworker of mine out and showed her how the old pros vintage shop. It was fun. I handed her stuff, told her to try it, and I'll be damned if it didn't look awesome on her. It was a perfect storm of style, shopping, my practiced sense of fashion style and history and her young person sense of funk and adventurousness. She was impressed by my ability to find the good stuff and I was impressed by her instant acknowledgement if something worked or didn't.
Really, I should be a personal shopper or a stylist. I can just TELL if something works.
Vintage shopping in Oslo can be really awesome. Prices here are cheap for old stuff (Norwegians don't really go for used stuff) and the selection is pretty good. Especially, oddly, for leather.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
out of the frying pan into the fire
This week was so busy. I wasn't expecting it, and so when I got back to work on Tuesday after the trip to Stockholm, it was all hands on deck, no time to think, go go go go go! It was crazy.
So I haven't had much time for catch up on things blog related.
Anyhow, the trip to Stockholm was very nice. Our hotel was in a trendy chi chi foo area of town called Stureplan, I can't say it was my kind of thing, very night clubby and exclusive bars with every table reserved (dammit I just want a DRINK, I'm fabulous in my own right, but I am SO not gonna play poser for you people.) and blonde women with big purses and boobs, little asses and brains, high heels and yippy little dogs with swarovski collars. God i hate that shit. Anybody who models their style after the Paris Hiltons of this world is someone I already know I don't want to talk to.
The hotel itself was nice, though our first room was so small it was kind of ridiculous. If you ever stay at the Hotel Stureplan in Stockholm, don't book a standard room, they are really small. Spend a bit more for the bigger rooms, then you're talking something nice. The room we moved to was much nicer and a good size, we slept well there, it was very comfortable.
We got there on Thursday (my birthday) and went for some drinks and a light dinner, then crashed. The next day we took a boat trip out to Drottningholm Palace, the family seat of the royal family. That was so nice, an hour boat ride through the gorgeous suburbs of Stockholm, ending up arriving at a glowing, imposing, yet oddly comfortable looking building placed right on a quiet inlet of the water.
We wandered around the grounds and the house and the outbuildings, it was a nice day, though the weather started getting blustery. What I liked about Drottningholm was the hand-painted everything there. All the 'stone' finishes were actually painted, and with my decorative painting background, I found that fascinating. The techniques and colors and the overall saturation of the different effects, it was truly great, and somehow also warmer than if it was real stone. We barely made it back to the boat before it started raining, which it did for all the rest of that day and the next. It rained so hard that it actually rained up and sideways.
Anyhow, we spent most of the rest of the time wandering around, finding cozy bars for a drink or two, and trying to stay dry but also see something. Gamle Stan (the old city) is nice and has charming alleys and little twisty streets. People watching there is great, too. I have NEVER seen so many handsome men, even if many of them are a bit overly trendy. But still, the handsome human quotient is extraordinary. Stockholm sort of kicks Oslo's ass, it's got all that history and large architecture and gorgeous views and that European Grand City thing that Oslo just never developed, it being a historically poor rural nation until not that late into the 20th century. Stockholm also has better shopping.....
Of course I had to take some time for shopping, and surprisingly I only bought two things, a pair of Arche shoes (very Euro-comfort and crashingly expensive in the US, but if you can find them on sale in Europe they are not too pricey, relatively) and a truly awesome up- and- coming-designer sleeveless coat thing that is so beautifully cut, it's a bit silly. I put it on and I feel like I'm invincible. (Both in black, of course.) I went for quality over quantity this trip.
If you want pictures of the trip, they are all posted in my Flickr page.
Got back from the trip and got thrown straight back into reality. Damn what a week I had this week!
But with a bonus. I tried on some of my clothes, you know, the ones that you save because you will fit back into them 'one day', even though they are too tight? The ones you love and can't quite get rid of? Well now they fit. I've lost enough weight that things are fitting better, I think I've gone down a pant size, and people are noticing the weight loss, so, yippee! Just gotta keep it up...8 lbs to go.
Woo!
So I haven't had much time for catch up on things blog related.
Anyhow, the trip to Stockholm was very nice. Our hotel was in a trendy chi chi foo area of town called Stureplan, I can't say it was my kind of thing, very night clubby and exclusive bars with every table reserved (dammit I just want a DRINK, I'm fabulous in my own right, but I am SO not gonna play poser for you people.) and blonde women with big purses and boobs, little asses and brains, high heels and yippy little dogs with swarovski collars. God i hate that shit. Anybody who models their style after the Paris Hiltons of this world is someone I already know I don't want to talk to.
The hotel itself was nice, though our first room was so small it was kind of ridiculous. If you ever stay at the Hotel Stureplan in Stockholm, don't book a standard room, they are really small. Spend a bit more for the bigger rooms, then you're talking something nice. The room we moved to was much nicer and a good size, we slept well there, it was very comfortable.
We got there on Thursday (my birthday) and went for some drinks and a light dinner, then crashed. The next day we took a boat trip out to Drottningholm Palace, the family seat of the royal family. That was so nice, an hour boat ride through the gorgeous suburbs of Stockholm, ending up arriving at a glowing, imposing, yet oddly comfortable looking building placed right on a quiet inlet of the water.
We wandered around the grounds and the house and the outbuildings, it was a nice day, though the weather started getting blustery. What I liked about Drottningholm was the hand-painted everything there. All the 'stone' finishes were actually painted, and with my decorative painting background, I found that fascinating. The techniques and colors and the overall saturation of the different effects, it was truly great, and somehow also warmer than if it was real stone. We barely made it back to the boat before it started raining, which it did for all the rest of that day and the next. It rained so hard that it actually rained up and sideways.
Anyhow, we spent most of the rest of the time wandering around, finding cozy bars for a drink or two, and trying to stay dry but also see something. Gamle Stan (the old city) is nice and has charming alleys and little twisty streets. People watching there is great, too. I have NEVER seen so many handsome men, even if many of them are a bit overly trendy. But still, the handsome human quotient is extraordinary. Stockholm sort of kicks Oslo's ass, it's got all that history and large architecture and gorgeous views and that European Grand City thing that Oslo just never developed, it being a historically poor rural nation until not that late into the 20th century. Stockholm also has better shopping.....
Of course I had to take some time for shopping, and surprisingly I only bought two things, a pair of Arche shoes (very Euro-comfort and crashingly expensive in the US, but if you can find them on sale in Europe they are not too pricey, relatively) and a truly awesome up- and- coming-designer sleeveless coat thing that is so beautifully cut, it's a bit silly. I put it on and I feel like I'm invincible. (Both in black, of course.) I went for quality over quantity this trip.
If you want pictures of the trip, they are all posted in my Flickr page.
Got back from the trip and got thrown straight back into reality. Damn what a week I had this week!
But with a bonus. I tried on some of my clothes, you know, the ones that you save because you will fit back into them 'one day', even though they are too tight? The ones you love and can't quite get rid of? Well now they fit. I've lost enough weight that things are fitting better, I think I've gone down a pant size, and people are noticing the weight loss, so, yippee! Just gotta keep it up...8 lbs to go.
Woo!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
That promised bullet post
- Ok, so where to begin.
- Well, first, I got really sick exactly two weeks ago.
- Like, that Wednesday night, one minute I feel fine, the next I have a horrendous stomach ache and am hurling my guts out.
- It lasted a week.
- I've never had stomach pain like that.
- It was like an alien was trying to get out.
- The doctor told me to take Tylenol and go for a walk.
- Cuz, yeah, I could totally stand up straight.
- Norwegian docs don't go for the pain meds and the fun drugs.
- However, I was impressed by the fact that this doc's office (a new one I just registered for) has an on site lab, that does lab work WHILE YOU WAIT.
- Took five minutes for a full blood and urine work up.
- Total cost for visit was $35.
- My tests were negative for any recognizable, earthly ailments.
- They don't test for aliens, though.
- Which I TOTALLY had in me.
- Also, you know when you are watching a movie set in the Victorian era or earlier and someone has a fever and the doctor and the concerned wife/sister/mom watches the sick person as they sweat and are delirious?
- And how they are so worried they will die?
- And then the sick person suddenly opens their eyes, and the doctor says, "The fever has broken. She will live."
- That was me.
- I totally FELT the fever go away.
- One minute I'm sweaty, weak, semi-delirious and exhausted, the next I'm all like, "Hey, can I have some Kool-Aid?" (That Kool-Aid tasted fucking awesome.)
- So now I totally understand those movies.
- There's an upside to stomach maladies, though.
- Ladies, you know what I'm talking about, right?
- Yep. WEIGHT LOSS.
- I lost 3 pounds.
- So a total of 9 pounds lost altogether.
- Surprisingly, that has almost been enough to get me back to a place where I feel good in my clothes again.
- Luckily I lose weight in my stomach first.
- Ass goes last.
- (Actually, ass will never go, let's face it. Ass remains; when the zombies come, they won't eat my brains, they will eat my ass.)
- I'm aiming for another 10-11 pounds and then I will be where I was when we moved to Norway.
- Cuz I had just come off the "OMFG I'm moving to NORWAY" diet and boy was I stressed and skinny.
- But people at work are asking if I have lost weight and I am getting boys checking me out, in a "hey baby" kind of way, which is kind of nice.
- (Digression). Why does my husband always insist on starting a conversation with me when I am trying to write or concentrate on something? He won't say anything all day, then, when I want to focus, BAM there he is wanting the attentions. (Digression ends.)
- Speaking of work, I've been on a bit of a high lately.
- It's been really cool, I've been the office moderator/problem solver.
- Everyone comes to me now for professional advice and help with problems whether IT, personal, HR, dealing with bureaucracy or whatever.
- I feel like I've turned a corner and people actually value my opinions and input.
- I totally love it. It feels good.
- I probably should have gone into HR or some sort of people-helping field.
- My birthday is tomorrow.
- I'm mid 40's now.
- EARLY mid-40's, but still fucking mid forties.
- I don't like that idea one little teeny bit.
- Life has gone way too fast and I am now on the downward slope, and I ain't happy about it.
- I'm going to Sweden.
- Seems a sensible thing to do on a birthday.
- Happy Birthday to me.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
bathrobe guy
Bath robe guy! Bath robe guy is back! Sans bath robe lady this time! See, what did I tell you! Wtf?
Friday, August 12, 2011
I DO have stuff to say
Just been too busy to say it.
Bullet post coming this weekend. Sorry I have been so LAME. (I plead deathly illness, btw.)
Bullet post coming this weekend. Sorry I have been so LAME. (I plead deathly illness, btw.)
Sunday, August 07, 2011
swedish tv freaks me out
What the fuck IS that? And WHY? Its not a cute bunny, its a scary staring rabbit creature!
Saturday, August 06, 2011
tiny tomato baby
Our balcony tomato plant, given me by my friend Jay, has a tiny tomato baby growing. Yeay!
Friday, August 05, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
the dub.jpg
Sunday, July 24, 2011
1000 words
A picture can say 1000 words.
Jens Stoltenberg has become a statesman within two days. He is very impressive. He is rising to the occasion and truly showing himself to be a leader of his people. Somehow I feel better knowing that this man is in charge.
I do not know who took this picture, but will find out and credit it.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Freak
So the bomber/murderer in the Norway attacks is a fundamentalist right wing Christian, a Norwegian, who lives in a posh flat right by my office and apparently bought a farm just to have an excuse to get the phosphate he needed for the bomb. So the dude has plenty of money and no humanity.
This is so very different from what people automatically expected, which was, of course, a Muslim terrorism act, by al Quaeda or similar. That's automatically what people expected, what they discussed ad infinitum and honestly, what we all figured was true.
So first, apologies to all the Norwegian Muslims. Sorry you got stereotyped and automatically blamed.
The sense of shock that a Norwegian would do this, one of 'our own', is quietly bubbling up. I don't think anyone knows what to make of this, how could one of 'US' go so wrong, in a country known for its moderate approach and demeanor? And how could this guy be so brutal, heartless, cruel and inhuman?
It is truly shocking.
So instead of yesterday being Norway's 9/11, it was more like Norway's Oklahoma City/Columbine combined. That is a lot of terror, heartache and brutality for one small country to take all at once.
I send my thoughts and heartfelt sympathies to all the families of the children/people affected by these terrible events. A senseless act of useless violence.
Friday, July 22, 2011
I'm ok
I heard the bomb blast at work. I thought it was an intense blast of thunder. A bunch of us commented on it and were looking for lightning (it's a rainy day).
I walked home from work, the streets are very quiet. It's like Norway's innocence has been swept away in one bomb blast.
FUCK whoever did this.
I walked home from work, the streets are very quiet. It's like Norway's innocence has been swept away in one bomb blast.
FUCK whoever did this.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wierdness
I'm sitting on my balcony on what has turned out to be a lovely warm day. (A bit sweaty, actually. 80 degrees seems really nice and cool when you are from Texas but when you don't have AC and it's a bit humid, it can get sweaty. Texas peep, don't hate.)
Anyhow, there's some strange shit going on in Oslo right now.
First of all, it's July, fellesferie time. Fellesferie means 'common holiday', it's the time when EVERYONE buggers off on vacation. Day care closes, so people have to take off work to care for the kiddos, so they might as well go to Greece or something. It's DEADSVILLE around here. I mean there is no one around. It's so quiet.
Which, if I'm honest, is AWESOME.
You don't have to fight traffic. You don't have to fight (much) for a place on the bus. The sales are on, so everything is 50% or more off (Norwegians hold DAMN good sales) and there's nobody to fight over the bargains with. Riding my bike (when it's not raining) is a complete and utter joy. Streets are quiet on weekend mornings. People smile at each other, kind of like "I know, right! Nobody's around, it's warm and can you believe it's just us here?" I honestly don't know why more people don't stay in Norway during fellesferie, it's the best time of year to be here.
Fellesferie also seems, this year, to be bringing the odd people out of the woodwork. Like, a few days ago, I noticed a woman at the coffee shop under my flat. She was wearing a bathrobe (striped terry cloth) and slippers, her hair wet, obviously fresh out of the shower. Yet there she was, in public, at a trendy coffeehouse, bringing her latte or whatever out to a table on the terrace, with her paper under her arm, obviously ready to settle in for a good morning coffee coze. I'm all like, "Dude, what up? This ain't your kitchen nook, honey".
I saw her again a few days later.
Then, yesterday I saw her again, same robe, same slippers, but this time with two other people, both of them in bathrobes, too. (Striped, terrycloth.) A guy (obviously with no shirt or anything under his robe as it fell open) and a somewhat younger woman. They were sitting at the prime table outside, the corner one, the 'see and be seen' table, drinking their cappucinos, reading their papers, slippers hanging off their toes, comfy as if they were in their living rooms. BUT THEY WERE NOT DRESSED FOR BEING IN PUBLIC!
Is this a trend? A flash (literally) mob? A protest? Performance art? A wry commentary on fashion, appropriateness and the cafe culture of Oslo?
I honestly don't know.
My mamma always taught me, a southern girl, that you never leave the house in house clothes, meaning sweats, flip flops, yoga pants, etc. So for me to see people sitting in their bathrobes out in public, honey, I swear, it gave me a turn. (Read those sentences in a southern accent, please.) There is NO WAY I will join that party. (Though I might ask them why they are doing it, next time I see them.)
Summertime in Oslo. I honestly, sincerely and completely love it.
Anyhow, there's some strange shit going on in Oslo right now.
First of all, it's July, fellesferie time. Fellesferie means 'common holiday', it's the time when EVERYONE buggers off on vacation. Day care closes, so people have to take off work to care for the kiddos, so they might as well go to Greece or something. It's DEADSVILLE around here. I mean there is no one around. It's so quiet.
Which, if I'm honest, is AWESOME.
You don't have to fight traffic. You don't have to fight (much) for a place on the bus. The sales are on, so everything is 50% or more off (Norwegians hold DAMN good sales) and there's nobody to fight over the bargains with. Riding my bike (when it's not raining) is a complete and utter joy. Streets are quiet on weekend mornings. People smile at each other, kind of like "I know, right! Nobody's around, it's warm and can you believe it's just us here?" I honestly don't know why more people don't stay in Norway during fellesferie, it's the best time of year to be here.
Fellesferie also seems, this year, to be bringing the odd people out of the woodwork. Like, a few days ago, I noticed a woman at the coffee shop under my flat. She was wearing a bathrobe (striped terry cloth) and slippers, her hair wet, obviously fresh out of the shower. Yet there she was, in public, at a trendy coffeehouse, bringing her latte or whatever out to a table on the terrace, with her paper under her arm, obviously ready to settle in for a good morning coffee coze. I'm all like, "Dude, what up? This ain't your kitchen nook, honey".
I saw her again a few days later.
Then, yesterday I saw her again, same robe, same slippers, but this time with two other people, both of them in bathrobes, too. (Striped, terrycloth.) A guy (obviously with no shirt or anything under his robe as it fell open) and a somewhat younger woman. They were sitting at the prime table outside, the corner one, the 'see and be seen' table, drinking their cappucinos, reading their papers, slippers hanging off their toes, comfy as if they were in their living rooms. BUT THEY WERE NOT DRESSED FOR BEING IN PUBLIC!
Is this a trend? A flash (literally) mob? A protest? Performance art? A wry commentary on fashion, appropriateness and the cafe culture of Oslo?
I honestly don't know.
My mamma always taught me, a southern girl, that you never leave the house in house clothes, meaning sweats, flip flops, yoga pants, etc. So for me to see people sitting in their bathrobes out in public, honey, I swear, it gave me a turn. (Read those sentences in a southern accent, please.) There is NO WAY I will join that party. (Though I might ask them why they are doing it, next time I see them.)
Summertime in Oslo. I honestly, sincerely and completely love it.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
the wall
MMS-email
The forbidding entrance of the US Embassy, where I stand in line. I'm pretty sure pictures are forbidden.
Monday, July 18, 2011
curtains (small things make me happy)
MMS-email
This makes me happy. I bought these vintage hand embroidered curtains at a textile market in Tunisia and packed them away to make a quilt. Realized this weekend they fit my window perfectly so hung them up. Little things make one happy!
two weeks!
Props to the US Embassy. They got my new passport done in two weeks! I am impressed.
Just in time for me to now go renew my Norwegian residency permit (and do the name change thing in Norway, too.)
I don't think men appreciate the pain in the ass factor of women changing their names, nor do they, I think, really appreciate the act of the name change itself. It really is a big deal, changing your name to show the world that you are in this relationship with this guy. I'm still a bit wigged out about it. (Ok OK I'm 18 years late doing it, but still.) (And by the way, honey, you still owe me an anniversary card or flowers or something for this year......)
Just in time for me to now go renew my Norwegian residency permit (and do the name change thing in Norway, too.)
I don't think men appreciate the pain in the ass factor of women changing their names, nor do they, I think, really appreciate the act of the name change itself. It really is a big deal, changing your name to show the world that you are in this relationship with this guy. I'm still a bit wigged out about it. (Ok OK I'm 18 years late doing it, but still.) (And by the way, honey, you still owe me an anniversary card or flowers or something for this year......)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
obsessed
That brown green line is my carb percentage intake over the last three months. See how it goes down towards the end? That's me starting this low carb thing, which, by the way, is WORKING.As a true Instant Gratification Girl, this is my new obsession.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
The diet takes hold
Well, I think I posted a while ago that I was starting a diet. It's been going ok, mostly, I mean, I have definitely not GAINED any weight, but I haven't really been losing, either. My tummy is a little flatter, which is the goal of this whole exercise but.....I want to get back to the picture, on the left, there, when I was about 20 lbs lighter. (and 10 years younger but WHATEVER.)
I had to kick it up a notch. I'm going low carb.
Yeah, I know, EVERYONE is doing it and low carb people are SO annoying because they natter on and on bout how many grams of carbs they are taking in and what they eat and so on. (BTW, discovered a totally yummy low carb treat today. Take some pre cooked refrigerated shrimp, rinse, add to a bowl with some chopped avocado and a dollop of aioli and you have a hellaciously yummy little low carb salad. I ate it with a Wasa knekkebrod for a little crunch. Yummers.) (Sorry. SEE WHAT I MEAN?)
My grandmother (my Dad's mom, the most elegant woman I've ever known) always swore that bread and starchy foods make one fat. I always thought that was interesting, I mean, she came of age in the late 20's so that old nugget about starch had been around for a while. She did always manage to keep a pretty svelte figure, for someone for whom exercise was gardening and that was IT. And damn if I am not JUST like her, in so many ways. What worked for her, might work for me too. I DO know that I feel better when I don't eat a lot of rice or potatoes, though I also have that intense craving for a damn bite of bread, already. (I'm DYING over here.) (And I am a fan of the crunchy, I looked at pork rinds the other day at the grocery store but can't quite go there yet.)
My version of low carb is fairly moderate: keep it under 100 grams a day, less if possible. Yesterday I managed 40. I am trying really hard to not have the sugar in my morning coffee, but the health food store alternative sweetener (stevia) isn't doing it for me (it tastes like licorice!), and I can't do artificial sweeteners (migraines!). So the sugar might have to remain. When I get hormonal (gals YOU know) if I want bread/that -amazing- pastry -at -the- bakery -by -work -where -the -cute -guy -works, then I shall have some. But, overall, I can totally do this low carb thing as it also allows me to have my rosé occasionally, which, as we all know, is Karla Juice. (I hear cava and prosecco are low carb, which is even BETTER news.)
The main thing is, between the low-carb and the LoseIt website, is that it is forcing me to think about what I eat and take responsibility for portions and so on. It's not too hard, once you get into the habit of it, which I now am. I just have to make judgement calls and decide if this particular craving is worth the calorie/carb number, can I eat less or substitute something else or should I just say what the hell and go for it.
I lost a half a pound after 3 days. I'm calling that progress.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Well that wasn't so bad at all.
So I went to the Embassy to get my new passport (and do my name change, I figure after being married for 18 years, the relationship might stick, so I am going ahead with the name change).
I have to say, it was rather pain free. In fact there is one guy working there, they refer to him as The Officer, who is actually quite cool and I wouldn't mind having a beer with him.
Granted, there were lines out the door and around the corner, full of college students trying to get visas to study in the US. But as an American Citizen, my tax dollars finally get me something so I zipped to the front in my own VIP Citizen line, and evil glares from those behind the velvet ropes notwithstanding, got right in and out of there within about 15 minutes. Name change and all.
I still have to change it on the social security card, and also change it with the folkregister in Norway, which I think will be a bit more red tape-esque, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm just glad that I am finally changing my name (and getting rid of my middle name, which I have always hated and which I won't tell you anyhow, so don't ask.)
For right now, I
I have to say, it was rather pain free. In fact there is one guy working there, they refer to him as The Officer, who is actually quite cool and I wouldn't mind having a beer with him.
Granted, there were lines out the door and around the corner, full of college students trying to get visas to study in the US. But as an American Citizen, my tax dollars finally get me something so I zipped to the front in my own VIP Citizen line, and evil glares from those behind the velvet ropes notwithstanding, got right in and out of there within about 15 minutes. Name change and all.
I still have to change it on the social security card, and also change it with the folkregister in Norway, which I think will be a bit more red tape-esque, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm just glad that I am finally changing my name (and getting rid of my middle name, which I have always hated and which I won't tell you anyhow, so don't ask.)
For right now, I
Sunday, July 03, 2011
happy july 4th!
I don't really have much to say, in that, there is too much to say so I usually just end up not posting. Which explains my silence of late.
So. What's up.
Um...there's a July 4th celebration at Frogner park today. I'll probably go, as I do most years, but I never really like it. (I've never been a flag waving Amurcan patriot, to do it once a year feels false no matter where I do it.) (I do enjoy the part where me and some friends ignore the July 4th stuff, plunk down picnic blankets, and make occasional forays into the crowd to scare up a snack and then we all just laze around in the park and chat.) I don't mean to sound ungrateful or jaded, but it's like they created a party in 1990, said, 'Hey Americans will love this" and then roll out the exact same thing every year thereafter. And they have all sort of "American" stuff, but it's not really American, it's Norwegian American, and dangit, I'd kill for a really good breakfast taco or a plate of fajitas (hold the parsley, please, Norwegian chef, HOLD THE FRIGGING PARSLEY!) and not a plate of what a well meaning Norwegian/American THINKS I will like as an American. I know, I KNOW, that's awful, but I was never a huge fan of July 4th celebrations even back in the States, to be honest, so to go to the one here and suddenly be all 'Ra Ra' about American stuff and then have American stuff like Coke! and Hot Dogs! and Line Dancing! (no really, there's line dancing, and NO I don't know how to do it even though I am from Texas!) be put forward like it's all so great....meh.
Well, it is a nice excuse, like I said, to hang out in the park with some friends. But I don't wave flags. Not my style.
If I want to celebrate my American-ness and be what I consider patriotic, then that would be going to a dive bar in Austin (like Deep Eddy or the Mean Eyed Cat) or in Oslo (the Dub or F&B or the Rock In) wearing my boots, kicking back with a Lone Star and hearing some blues/country band warbling around while I sweat in the 90 degree heat (60 degrees in Oslo) and shoot the shit with my friends. That's my America. And it comes with me wherever I go.
Speaking of American-ness, next week I get to go to the American Embassy. I think we all know how much I enjoy that. I need to get a new passport, mine is running out of pages, even though I have had new ones added twice, and there is no more room for stamps or visas. I've got a year and some months left on it, but they won't add more pages, so I gotta get a new passport. I might have to take a prophelactic xanax, I get angry every time I go there.....I mean, they don't even let you bring in your PHONE or a book, and then all you have to entertain you are jingoistic propaganda videos of the US with happy shiny people and amber waves of grain. barf.
So strange, the other day I walked by the Venezuelan embassy, they were having a party, and people were just walking in the door, waving hello and then going to a courtyard out back for drinks and bbq. There were no guards, no walls, no showing of passports, no security cameras. Just people enjoying their fellow countrymen on a nice day. Contrast that to the US Embassy, where the security is so tight you can hardly walk by the joint without getting strip searched. If they DO have a party you have to register online, bring your passport and STILL get searched, once you get past the iron gates, guys with guns, security cameras, police and metal detectors.
No wonder people hate us.
**edit: A few hours after the original post, I must say, the food has improved over the years and I can say that there is some pretty good bbq happening there right now. And pecan pie! No parsley in sight....
So. What's up.
Um...there's a July 4th celebration at Frogner park today. I'll probably go, as I do most years, but I never really like it. (I've never been a flag waving Amurcan patriot, to do it once a year feels false no matter where I do it.) (I do enjoy the part where me and some friends ignore the July 4th stuff, plunk down picnic blankets, and make occasional forays into the crowd to scare up a snack and then we all just laze around in the park and chat.) I don't mean to sound ungrateful or jaded, but it's like they created a party in 1990, said, 'Hey Americans will love this" and then roll out the exact same thing every year thereafter. And they have all sort of "American" stuff, but it's not really American, it's Norwegian American, and dangit, I'd kill for a really good breakfast taco or a plate of fajitas (hold the parsley, please, Norwegian chef, HOLD THE FRIGGING PARSLEY!) and not a plate of what a well meaning Norwegian/American THINKS I will like as an American. I know, I KNOW, that's awful, but I was never a huge fan of July 4th celebrations even back in the States, to be honest, so to go to the one here and suddenly be all 'Ra Ra' about American stuff and then have American stuff like Coke! and Hot Dogs! and Line Dancing! (no really, there's line dancing, and NO I don't know how to do it even though I am from Texas!) be put forward like it's all so great....meh.
Well, it is a nice excuse, like I said, to hang out in the park with some friends. But I don't wave flags. Not my style.
If I want to celebrate my American-ness and be what I consider patriotic, then that would be going to a dive bar in Austin (like Deep Eddy or the Mean Eyed Cat) or in Oslo (the Dub or F&B or the Rock In) wearing my boots, kicking back with a Lone Star and hearing some blues/country band warbling around while I sweat in the 90 degree heat (60 degrees in Oslo) and shoot the shit with my friends. That's my America. And it comes with me wherever I go.
Speaking of American-ness, next week I get to go to the American Embassy. I think we all know how much I enjoy that. I need to get a new passport, mine is running out of pages, even though I have had new ones added twice, and there is no more room for stamps or visas. I've got a year and some months left on it, but they won't add more pages, so I gotta get a new passport. I might have to take a prophelactic xanax, I get angry every time I go there.....I mean, they don't even let you bring in your PHONE or a book, and then all you have to entertain you are jingoistic propaganda videos of the US with happy shiny people and amber waves of grain. barf.
So strange, the other day I walked by the Venezuelan embassy, they were having a party, and people were just walking in the door, waving hello and then going to a courtyard out back for drinks and bbq. There were no guards, no walls, no showing of passports, no security cameras. Just people enjoying their fellow countrymen on a nice day. Contrast that to the US Embassy, where the security is so tight you can hardly walk by the joint without getting strip searched. If they DO have a party you have to register online, bring your passport and STILL get searched, once you get past the iron gates, guys with guns, security cameras, police and metal detectors.
No wonder people hate us.
**edit: A few hours after the original post, I must say, the food has improved over the years and I can say that there is some pretty good bbq happening there right now. And pecan pie! No parsley in sight....
Sunday, June 26, 2011
18 years.jpg
After 18 years of marriage, the ideal present is a silly rubbery toy. Who needs paper, silver or diamonds.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Great Naked Bike Ride coming to a Portland near you
This article conveniently ignores the naked bike ride in London, which was awesomely wierd, but hey, you guys Stateside can see a bunch of naked guys on bikes, too, just go to Portland!
Go here for the details.
Go here for the details.
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