Actually got around to going to the cinema yesterday, after having been sort of planning to go to various shows since Easter… Major achievement.

Anyway, saw The Iron Ladies – tagged – reasonably accurately, as it happens – as a “thai feel-good comedy about a transsexual volleyball team”. It was great. Uhm, let me modify that. As a film it was not great. It was basically Cool Runnings with cross-dressers. And though I have no idea whether the west has actually gotten further tolerance-wise than eastern Asia, western art has certainly moved on a bit. The treatment of the issues was heavy-handed, to say the least. Though I suspect any subtelty they may have achieved would have been lost in the translation (the trouble with Thai is that even the tone and intonation is foreign to me, and so I have to rely more or less solely on subtitles that were worse than usual, the translator seemed to be in a muddle over the rules of volleyball for one thing, mixing such terms as “game” and “set” throughout). But the characters are delightful enough to make the film worth watching anyhow. Highly recommended.

Music in the room: Love is All Around – The Troggs

Well, this is the height of irony… I’m on an assignment in Stavanger for one of the large energy suppliers in western Norway, and guess what? The electricity supply is out. And I mean OUT. In the whole of south Rogaland. And how much work with computers can you do with no electricity. The answer is Not A Lot. I’ve just about got enough power for this, and what with the mobile connection to the internet I don’t need the server here (the one I use is in Oslo).

Sounds like we might be returning to Oslo early, I say.

Music in my head: Something Stupid

I’ve been working too hard. How can I tell? My arms hurt. My left wrist and elbow have been complaining for a while and my right wrist has just chimed in. It all comes of sitting bunched up over the laptop. Quite possibly reading in bed doesn’t help, but I prefer to blame work…

I did, in fact, go to the gym on Tuesday. I worked out for all of, ah, 30 minutes, I think. Anyway, I’m sure it’s better than nothing. I might go back tonight. Only part of the reason I didn’t stay longer was that A. I didn’t like their cross-trainers (I found it impossible to get a smooth movement on them, it could just be me, of course) and B. they don’t seem to have a Pace room (I like Pace). So maybe I should make an effort to go this weekend instead, when I’m back in Oslo.

I’ve been called back for a second interview for a job that I really, really want. Did I mention that I hate interviews? I’m sure they’re character building, but who wants a character? I like me the way I am.

Music in my head: Escape (Yes; Enrique Iglesias. I need help.)

Still in Stavanger. Or, rather, back in Stavanger, as I’ve been in Oslo for the weekend. A bit of an all outer, with people from work meeting up at BarBeint on Friday and I and Ø having a housewarming on Saturday. Alchohol was consumed, and not just by me, either. It struck me, yet again, how my tendency to try to avoid making assumptions leaves me out of the gossip-mill. At least, there might be gossip about me, but I’ll be the last person to catch on to any gossip about other people. Take I and Ø – colleagues of mine, met at work and obviously somehow got it together to the extent that they have now moved in and are having a housewarming. And did I have an inkling? Nope. Not even when the invite landed in my mailbox. “Oh, so they’re having a party together. How nice. Well, since they’re both leaving at about the same time I suppose it makes sense…” Not a smidget of an inkling. Until someone said something about it that was completely unambiguous. And a lot of things suddenly clicked into place. Not the first time that sort of thing has happened either. So, a bit of advice to y’all: I don’t mind being on a need to know basis, but please don’t assume that I have guessed at what’s going on. Odds are I haven’t.

Anyway, back to Stavanger. Nice town. The centre is nice and compact, so it’s a nice short walk from the hotel to the harbour where there are loads of restaurants and places to have a pint or two in the sun. My colleagues do not approve of the local beer (Tou), which is served almost everywhere and sometimes exclusively, but I don’t care, because A. I don’t drink beer and B. Skagen Brygge Hotel has a mile-long list of single malts on the menu. Besides, I’m broke.

Thought I’d get around to going to the gym today – can go to any branch in Norway, theoretically – as I haven’t been for weeks, now, and I really do need some excercise. And my the front wheel on my bike’s been flat for weeks, too (ok, so I should’ve fixed it, but I only got round to it this weekend), so I haven’t even been cycling to work (or back, which is more to the point, as that’s all up-hill).

On a different note: I hate interviews. I realise the necessity, but I do wish I could be let off. Especially for jobs that I really want, and I’m sure I could do well. Couldn’t they just take my word for it? Ok, maybe not. I’ll probably be so sick of interviews so quickly that I’ll just jump at the first job that offers, even if it’s the check-out at the local supermarket. I will try to restrain myself, though, as this whole situation is really something I ought to view as an opportunity to search for “the perfect job”. Unless the present prospect actually comes through (which seems unlikely from the sheer point of Too Good To Be True), I think I’ll get a paper round. I could do with the excercise. Maybe it’d take away the tension from all these interviews.

Music in my head: Head over Feet – Alanis Morisette (v.g. compared to yesterday when I managed to get the “Slå på ring” stuck in my head for hours, I nearly went mad – or at least madder)

I find myself in Stavanger today. I suddenly have work to do. It’s quite nice to get out of the office, actually. What with everything going on there is a lot of tension and tendencies to bickering, even when the discussion centres on trying to get the best deal possible by presenting a joint case.

Anyhoo. Stavanger in the sunshine. Unfortunately, my work, of course, keeps me indoors. Though there might be time for a pint or two in the sun this evening. Nice.

Music in my head: Why do fools fall in love?

Harumph. Someone is coming round my block of flat to check the radiators today. All very well, I guess, a leak would not be good. However, in order to check the radiators they do rather need access, and I happen to have a row of shelving units in front of them. You know this storage problem I have with books? I really am not kidding when I say I don’t have room for any more bookshelves. So I need to empty the shelving units and partly dismantle them.

And to add insult to injury, the check is supposed to happen some time between five and nine tonight, I have to be there to let them in and I am invited to a cognac tasting at six. Bet you they are going to get around to my flat at about ten to nine, unless I go to the tasting anyway, in which case they’ll get to me five minutes after I’ve left my flat.

Music in my head: Mr Jones (Dylan)

Uhm. Did I mention the sofa is long enough to sleep on (for me, anyway, which means it’s long enough for most people I know).

Love sofa.

Music in my head: So Far Away from Me (Dire Straits – because I misheard the line for years as a kid, though I couldn’t figure out what they meant by “Sofa away from me”)

Mmm. Nice weekend. L and I have a very bad influence on each other, so we both need to go on a diet now, but who cares?

Major accomplishment this weekend: Have been planning to get a sofa for months (since November, in fact), but have been hampered with the idea of getting a fold-out one from IKEA (trying to remember the name of the one I want, but can’t). Finally realised that not only have I not got 8000 nok to spend on a sofa, there would not actually be room to fold it out anyway. So I made a decision to try to find a second-hand one. Preferably a cheap one. Preferably one that could be delivered (cruical point, as, though I am getting somewhat used to climbing up five flights of stairs to get home, I am not up to carrying a sofa up the same stairs). L and I checked out a second-hand store on Saturday and found a sofa which was the sort of thing I was looking for, but a little more expensive than I could have wished, so I said I’d think about it. Sunday we went to a flea-market and found the perfect thing. Probably a fifties or so model (though it’s hard to tell), it’s been reupholstered very neatly at some point, and in what seems to be a very durable material (judging from how little worn it looks). The material is in one of my favourite colours, a sort of blueish sea green. And it is soooooo comfy. Not to mention having a sofa at all is such a nice change from just an armchair (I’m of the “legs off the floor” persuasion). And sofa including delivery came to 500 nok, and the money going to a good cause at that.

Music in my head: It might as well rain until September (and at the moment it looks like it will, too)

I want to marry an author, too. Someone who knows how to REALLY write a speech. It could just be the champagne (and wine), of course (the one I had, I mean, don’t know what the bride and groom have been drinking).

Music in the room: Lær meg å kjenne dine veie (Sissel Kyrkjebø singing in the church, watching the “highlights” now)

L arrived a couple of hours ago for a weekend visit. She’s currently back at my flat cooking dinner. Me like. I’ll be leaving work shortly and then we’re going to kick off our megakitch weekend… The Norwegian princess Martha is getting married today. As if a royal wedding wasn’t kitch enough, the official wedding colours are barbie pink and mint green. I am wearing a pink hairclip today to show my solidarity (cool colours). And tomorrow night is the Eurovision Song Contest.

Lotsa fun for the kids (i.e. L and me).

Music in my head: “And it won’t be very long, ’till I’m going, going, gone” (and so on – from the Reality Bites soundtrack, can’t remember the group or anything like that.)