One thing leads to another and I suppose moving is on my mind (I’m certainly finding it hard to concentrate), but it just occurred to me that it’s rather inconvenient that the February 2002 to January 2003 entries from the various blogs are not in Movable Type, especially as regards the “currently reading” entries, as they ought to be accessible by category (i.e. author). I therefore thought I might move them. I started with two (on O’Brian, from Feb. 2002) and then realised my employer might appreciate it if I did this in my spare time… Oops.

Accio concentration.

If M needs proof that I mean it when I say “I love you”, the fact that I spent most of the weekend packing some of my precious books in boxes and last night piling the rest of them on the bed and couch to enable the moving of the main row of shelves 24 cm out and about 50 left (having removed the corner unit) to make room for a bed that will hold us both ought to do it. It seems I’ve invited him to move in with me, and if this surprises you, dear faithful reader, aware as you must be of my professed love of solitude (with two people living in a 36 square meter space there can be little hope of solitude), your surprise can be as nothing compared with my own. There are excuses, of course. It’s immensly sensible economically – living on your own is expensive, and in Oslo it is especially so. We’ll save heaps. We’ll save time, too, what with no more travelling between his place and mine. Oh, yes, it makes sense, all right.

Fact of the matter, though, is that in a wholly irrationaly way and one which I would have claimed to be completely against my character had it not felt so natural, I want him there 24/7. There is no excuse for that, but, quite frankly, I don’t care.

So, I’ve been moving books. Quite apart from moving the shelves, room for more books will have to be made (you don’t think I’d fall in love with someone who didn’t have a few books of his own, did you?) – and so some of mine (and some of his) are going to have to go into storage. Have you ever tried sorting through your books with the question: “Will I want to (re)read this in the next X months/years?” Do you have any idea how difficult it is? Oh well, as my book collection is one of the few things in my life which is pretty much completely organised, I will know which box each book is in, and so will be able to get it out of storage reasonably easily. And in a way, this sorting through is a good thing, too, as I keep finding books that are not actually in the database (the count is therefore going up at an alarming rate – currently it’s at 2278 volumes). I also find the odd one that I know for certain I will not (re)read, and so can be confined to the pile marked “for charity”. All to the good.

I don’t even want to think about all the clutter (books not included) that I’ll have to sort through over the next few weeks in order to make the place inhabitable for two.

It’s worth it, obviously. But I’ll be glad when we’re done – for more reasons than one.

Voice in my head: Fairground Attraction – Perfect (which it is)

Madness.

1. On Sunday afternoon, I like to just laze around the flat, preferably with M present.
2. I’m behind someone at a traffic light, the light turns green and they just sit there, I honk. Well, normally this is not a situation I’d be in, obviously, since I don’t drive…
3. My immediate reaction to someone making a nasty remark to me is to laugh, normally.
4. If I had to live in a state/country where it was cold most of the year, I would make sure I was properly dressed. And I do, I suppose.
5. When the weather outside is hot and humid, I prefer to lie perfectly still with a fan on full blast and a cold drink nearby and hope that it stops soon.
6. My favorite ‘comfy’ clothes to wear around the house is pj’s, or at least pj-bottoms and a t-shirt.
7. If given a deadline at work/school to finish a project, I usually do everything at the last minute.
8. If someone gave me a pet for my birthday, I would assume they were out of their minds. You should never give away a living thing – unless the recipient has specifically asked for it – and you should certainly never give me a living thing, I’m allergic to most of them…
9. As far as watching the clock on weekends, I don’t, unless there is something I specifically want to watch on television or have somewhere to go which entails punctuality – like the cinema yesterday.
10. I usually wash my car about every… I don’t have a car. If I did, I’d probably only wash it if it were getting difficult to tell which colour it was.

Apparently.

I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.

These are the ones I’m sure about, as in “at the very least stopped the car and gotten out in”. I’ve been through some more on a train, but I hardly think that counts.

Pixelsphinx may not have intended to start a meme, but I suspect it’s one now. Anyway, you know me, a list has got to be completed (via Melissa):

Favorite Color: A sea-green, sort of turquosy thing
Favorite Flower: Tulips
Favorite Scent: Any Laura Biagotti scent
Favorite Cocktail: Single malt whisky! Oh, sorry, coctail you said? Long Island Ice Tea
Favorite Wine (if any): Billecart-Salmon champagne
Favorite Soda/Drink: Farris (sparkling water)
Favorite Food: Pasta with garlic and cream sauce (any variety), pizza, tacos, chicken kashmiri, uhm, ok, I’ll stop there.
Favorite Restaurant: The Old Black Lion, Hay-on-Wye
Favorite Treat: champagne
Favorite Candy: Freias milk chocolate or Non-stop
Favorite Number: 4
Favorite day of the year: 17th May
Favorite Season: Spring
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Game (video/board): Tetris/Trivial Pursuit
Your addictions are: Books, single malt whisky, chocolate, coffee, Beat for Beat and M
If you had a whole day to yourself, alone, and you wanted to treat yourself, what would you do?: Curl up on the couch with a blanket and plenty of tea, coffee and chocolate available and read and perhaps watch a good movie or two. And I’d order a Peppes pizza for dinner.
If you had an extra $200 that you didn’t need to spend on bills or debt, what would you buy with it?: Right now? A bed.

Not entirely sure how much I have to say to the Friday Five questions this week, actually.

1. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
While living in Manchester I’d walk alone at night, which I was repeatedly told was a very risky thing to do. I suppose meeting up with people you’ve gotten to know over the internet is quite risky, too, in a way, but I think a little common sense will probably keep you safe enough.

2. What one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never approve of?
My mother’s not overly cautious and neither are my friends. I’d like to try stuff that M might not want to try himself – ride all the world’s largest roller coasters, for example, and hanggliding, possibly – however, I hardly think you can claim that he’d disapprove.

3. On a scale of 1-10, what’s your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it’s a lifestyle)
Somwhere around the 5 mark – boringly enough.

4. What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?
Getting to meet Roger, Sarah, Glenda, Donna, Rachel, Jane and Lyn.

5. … and what’s the worst?
You know, I can’t think of anything bad that’s happened to me because of taking risks – unless you count such things as having to pay for excess baggage…

I was trying to remember when the Norwegian Mother’s Day is (it’s this Sunday) last night and started thinking about bringing my parents breakfast in bed. I used to do this fairly frequently as a kid. I assume it must have started with one of my parents helping me (my father at Mother’s Day my mother at Father’s Day) or me helping whenever one of them had a birthday, but once I was old enough to work the coffee maker I was allowed to get on with it. And at some point I must have decided that waiting for special occasions to come along was not really necessary, and so my parents would get breakfast in bed whenever I felt like it (apart from birthdays I’d stick to Sundays, though). I learnt the importance of checking the time the day when they were somewhat unappreciative – it was half past five in the morning, as far as I can remember – but other than that I can’t recall any major mishaps.

Then, when I got to around 15 or 16, my parents stopped sleeping in, even on a Sunday, and I started, and the timing, therefore, was no longer in my favour.

Nowadays, I myself get breakfast in bed almost every weekend – and proper breakfast, too (bacon/sausage and eggs) rather than the coffee or tea and odd bisquit which seemed to be enough to please my parents first thing in the morning.

I seem to have done rather well, boyfriend-wise.

Note to self: As my parents are back from Thailand on Sunday, I suppose I ought to send a card.

Voice in my head: Shania Twain – From This Moment

WOULD. IT. PLEASE. STOP. SNOWING. NOW.

I mean, really.

More madness!

1. I probably spend about an hour on the computer every day. Outside work, that is.
2. It always takes me five minutes to get ready in the morning. It normaly takes longer, of course, but I don’t really need more than five.
3. I would rather go to the dentist than go to a nightclub. Seriously. I don’t mind the dentist (apart from the bills).
4. My favorite dessert is creme caramel. At least right now, I had some Saturday night and it was delish and made me decide to try making it myself soon.
5. When I go to the store for one item, I always walk out with about three or four, at the very least.
6. If the statement, ‘You are what you eat’ was true, I would be a humongous pork liver patê. Uhm, yeah.
7. I set my thermostat to ‘off’ in the summer and 20ish (?) in the winter. I don’t actually have a thermostat. I have central heating which tends to be off or on and no air conditioning.
8. My favorite outdoor activity is walking. Preferably combined with photography.
9. My favorite indoor activity is reading. And various things involving M.
10. When I’m feeling down, I usually read. Or snuggle up to M.

Voice in my head: Avril Lavigne – Naked