Looking for the 2002 Mayfly entry I found myself rereading old entries. It’s illuminating. And funny. Specifically, I still go all gooey (even more so, in fact, as I now know what it feels like), the “False alarm” cry was obviously a false alarm (“Beklager feil, ny feil følger.”), in fact, the whole month of March is pretty amusing. Yes: March. I did take my time, didn’t I? Thanks for sticking around, dear. It’s much appreciated.

Rereading, I also noticed how, the closer I got to deciding I really was falling in love rather than imagining it, the less I blogged about it, apart from the occasional cryptic reference. Which might explain why Donna was so surprised at the first mention of the word “boyfriend”.

Mmmm. Boyfriend.

It’s that time of year again. You get to sum up your year in 20 words. Or, at least, I’m going to. Just have to take a day or two to think. But then the year’s not over yet. I have:

Never ending project at work. Sociability, too much sociability? Love? Love! Scotland again and again. Still no kitchen. But love.

In the meantime Also – my entry for 2002.

Voices in my head: Les Mis Symphonic Cast – Look Down (streets of Paris version)

Ok, so it’s Monday…

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
The cold weather? Not really. I like snow for Christmas, though – I wish it would arrive soon. It’s too dark without it.

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
With my family, which is what I’m doing. I’d prefer to be at my parents’ rather than my grandparents’, but they can’t travel so we have to come to them. I’ll be missing M, but that can’t be helped.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
Of course. Tree, watching “Tre nøtter til Askepott”, eating too much, driving to Trondheim on Christmas Day (or the day after, but it had better be Christmas Day this year).

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
For Christmas specifically? No. What I do do is sposor two children (one in Mali, one in Indonesia), but that’s year round. As is other things I do for “charity”. Except I tend to buy charity Christmas cards. That’s something, I suppose.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
Lars Lerin‘s watercolour of Glasgow Station – currently on display at Oslo Kunstforening (until the 23rd). It’s only 50000 NOK (about 6000 USD)… I’d also like to have M there for Christmas. Which is about as unlikely as getting the watercolour. So I’ll settle for a good book.

Except there is no snow.

Anyhow. It’s been one of those weeks. Monday I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, Tuesday I went around thinking it was Friday and was disappointed every time I remembered that it wasn’t. Ditto yesterday, except I was less disappointed. Ditto today, but today it’s ok because I’ve decided to take tomorrow off anyway to do some Christmas shopping and such. I would have had to leave work early in any case, as the NMWL committee Christmas bash is tomorrow night and I’m supposed to sort out the roasting of ducks, which takes a while.

After work I am going to see Master & Commander on my own while the boyfriend does useful things like cleaning stuff. Because why? Because this is the last chance I have before it moves to one of the smaller screens. It had better be good, or I will be very miffed indeed. Not only am I looking forward to seeing Jack and Stephen on screen, and not only is Patrick O’Brian’s writing way to good to be messed about with, but if the film’s no good I won’t have anyone to make out with while waiting for the battle scenes. And it’s not as if it’s a film worth seeing just to stare at the hero either (I mean, Russel Crowe – blargh – now, if it had been Denzel Washington, for example…). Hopefully there will be more Stephen in the film than is obvious from the trailers and promotional material (which is “not at all”), Bettany might actually make a pretty good Stephen (though he’s too tall). Jack without Stephen is, I suspect, likely to be pretty boring. We’ll see.

On a related note: Only 10 days until Return of the King! Yay!

That had very little to do with Christmas, but never mind. Back to topic: I seem to have goofed up a bit on the whole present situation this year. Problem is I’ve got both my brother and my parents alchohol related presents. Which is fine, they’ll be pleased (I think), but due to the fact that my grandfather is stricktly opposed to any sort of drinking I can’t really put these under the tree with the rest of the presents. And since the reason I can’t do that is that what we do on Christmas eve is sit around and open all the presents one by one, it’s going to be pretty obvious if neither of them get any presents from me. My grandparents might not notice, but if they do it’s going to be hard to explain. My father’s all right, because I’ve picked up something else for him already (long before this problem even arose, in fact), but I really need to find something to wrap up for my brother and mother. My mother’s pretty difficult to shop for at the best of times, and having to find something in addition to the “real” present is therefore a bit tricky. Finding something for my brother would be a piece of cake, except I already spent way too much on the alchohol-related present, and so need to find something that doesn’t cost a bunch. I also need to sort out the presents for my grandparents. I know what I’m getting for them, I just haven’t done anything about it yet. And I need something for J. And then there’s that additional person to shop for that I seem to have aquired this year. I think I have that sorted though. Still, tomorrow could be kinda busy.

Happily, I actually like buying people presents. I’m probably going to have a good time gallivanting about town tomorrow trying to find the perfect “extra” gift for my brother. The main danger is actually that I’ll find too many things I want to get, including presents for myself and more stuff for the people I’ve already got presents for, and end up spending too much money. Perhaps it would be better to leave all credit cards at home.

Lastly, if you need a laugh, this is a very good place to look (via Anja).

personality test for a while. I promise. (I’m not betting on how long “a while” is, though.)

ARTIST
(Dominant Introvert Abstract Feeler )

Like just 4% of the population you are an ARTIST (DIAF)–creative, adventurous, and deep. Although you are an introvert, your dominant ideas lead you to assert yourself often–especially through your work. You actively put your creativity to constructive use, and because you are ruled by your heart you are less likely to be inhibited by logic.

You have an intuitive understanding of emotion and know how evoke it in others, but the real world can be a prison of foolishness and embarrassment if you don’t get your head out of the clouds a little more. Also, you are 87% likely to write poetry. Please, for the love of God, stop now.

And when you tell them they’re wrong they say:

You know, for every question, we track very carefully what each gender answers. This allows us to guess with the utmost accuracy what you are. And in the rare case where we guess incorrectly (like now), we have the opportunity to learn from nature’s mistake. You.

People like you, who walk the scary line between man and woman, are *very* helpful in understanding exactly what it means to be human. Thanks, and good luck.

Which is kinda rude. But funny.

Via Anja, who, incidentally, is also definitely a man ;)

There are ways to wake up and then there are ways to wake up.

Voices in my head: Elton John and some other geezer singing I’m Your Puppet

Via Anja, a test to determine Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 55%
Visual : 44%
Left : 70%
Right : 29%

The summary is kind of longwinded…
Read More

without the stupid quiz, but whatever. Nice picture. Bit young, though, isn’t he?

SCOTTISH
Yay! It doesn’t bother you that you don’t
understand what the hell he is saying half the
time (as long as it’s your name right?). Sean
here would be perfect. But you’d have to fight
me for him. Maybe you should look into Billy
Boyd.

Which Accent Makes You Melt? (for those attracted to males)
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