E: Online clips 18

When the working gets tough, the fun gets going.

I like hip hop, and am amazed by rappers who can imitate other quick-mouth stars.

Commercials are mainly to convince and cell, but parodies can be really humourous. At least the manly PMS replacement pills is worth a look.

Priests and pastors baptizing have to be prepared for anything – also while baptizing.

Like hunting for men and a motherly care for women, I think finding harmless explotions cool, is a human instinct.

Birthdays is a common event to caputre on film. That is a main reason for having many viewable memories from them, and humorous ones from whom you do not even know.

There battle between democrats and republicans is tense. In this hearing, an opponent of the current president lets out his dissapointment.

See my collections of all online clips.

E: Life bygone list

My updates have been easy to keep track of lately – as there has been few of them. This is not because the number of occasions have been dropping, rather the opposite. Not all have been new and radical, but the sum has exceeded necessary composure to relfect and blog frequently.

Thus, I give you a list of the important 10 elements that have occupied my mind and time the last few weeks (but not out of my life as the title may indicate).

1) Darsh is coming! Yesterday was two weeks until my girlfriend, Darshini, will enter Norwegian territory. The 22-year-old Malaysian speech pathology student have a havy share in “life stock” such as phone conversation time, SMSes, e-mailing writing, thoughts and prayer. And from December 11th she will occupy most of my time for the month to follow. Being physically separated since June 21st sure makes it about time to meet again. Long distance relationships are rarely just fun, but can still be worthwhile. More on the reunion to come. It will be really good to be around her again.

2) Studies are getting to me. Having spent an entire semester by myself, on my own terms and motivational factors require self discipline. I consider myself diligent in this way, but my working steam had a bit of a crack recently as the newspaper database, atekst, needed to gather the indispensable articles for my thesis, is down. Nor do the people in charge now how or when to get in operating functionally. Instead I have been doing a bit of on-the-side work, and am now writing theoretical chapters for the introduction.

3) Sport wise, I have been training regularly. Apart from a bit of squash, running and weights, volleyball happens three times a week + weekend matches. Other than last weekends loss, the team is doing well and we are ready for a ranking tournament this upcoming weekend in Trondheim (where we had mustaches last time around). Volleyball has been consistent

4) Christmas is less than a month away. Accordingly I have completed the parcel shopping for 2006. There are still some details remaining and a bit of fixing to do for a couple of presents, but I have wrapped most and shipped off those I will not be able to give away myself. I love giving, and I sense relief for being about done with this can-be stressing purchasing activity.

5) The holiday season came about to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Being a Christian lately has been satisfactory (beyond the general certainty in meaning and purpose of life and salvation). I have a Bible study guide devotional I like, and enjoy time attending or translating in church (into English, which I do every third Sunday); Storsalen. The student complex is also a good place to live.

6) I now have green light to get a house loan from my local bank. Even though the interest is not the national best, there may be tough to get a mortgage elsewhere as I can only predict what I will be making for the years to come. I do not even know where I will be or what I will do :) But I keep looking for apartments to buy, and find a fair bit of could-be-interesting ones. Have not been on house inspection yet, though.

7) Handball is an excited sport. I watched my first live match ever Sunday, November 19th. In the top national division for women, Stabæk defeated Bækkelaget 21-19 in an average performance in Nadderudhallen (the home stadium hall). My views on the physical toughness in the game were strenghtened. Those players are tough. At the same time I confirmed my conviction that handball is really the sport I am proportioned to do. Volleyball is fun too, but my willingness to run fast and long is not used. Compared to soccer, I am better with my hands than feet. Maybe I will go try out next season for the fun of it.

8) Team Eckbo is this fall’s most famous theatrical comedy show in Norway. Four of Norways funniest men perform four times a week at the main stage of the Chateu Neuf buidling in Oslo. I went there Thursday November 17th with my friend Maia. Her synopsis here. Underneath follows a paragraph from my diary entry that day (in Norwegian).

Høydepunktet for dagen var Team Eckbo med Maia. Humorgjengen har ikke uten grunn fylt Chateu Neuf gang på gang torsdag til lørdag de siste ukene. Innslagene er mange og kreative, særlig de segmentene som improviseres på scenen. Noen stikkord fra de ulike sketsjene og innslagene; gjøglere, sneglenes dans, musikal om allværsjakke, sang om anti-penetrering bakfra, jul med Eckbo-karakteren Asbjørn, en eggete fremstilling av konflikten mellom Hizbollah og Israeal, Ekstra Joker Nord, danske produsenter av trailere (smakebiter fra spillefilmer), Debatt En, og en finale med eventyrlesing og barnemating på ett (1) minutt. Jeg lo mye og inderlig, som var godt for kropp og sjel, selv om det ikke er det aller morsomte jeg har sett med de gutta. Terningkast fem (eller 6,9 på en skala til 10).

Picture taken from Leif-Atle Heen's home page.

9) Work, in DinSide, is business as usual. Sometimes it is good just to do pretty mind-less database updating (when writing services are not needed).

10) Fatigue. The last few days I have felt really exhausted. I do not go to bed early, but have slept as much, if not more then usual (that is more then 7-7,5 hours per night). It has been raining consisently for weeks, and the desired winter snow does not set. It gets darked much sooner than earlier. I have a lot to do and have been a bit stressed. Still, none of these factors normally drain me of noticable energy for any significant period of time. I reckon it is a passing phase, but am more cautious now than before about taking breaks when needed.

X: Seier og tap på 10 sett

We lost 2-3 in volleyball today, but won 3-2 last Saturday. The current negativism and lack of enthusiasm is my explination of lacking determination and poor results.

Last Saturday night we also had our annual Christmas dinner/party event. Pictures can be viewed here.

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Vi tapte mot Kolbotn i dagens volleyballdyst. Det er to tap av to mulige i årets serie. Jeg følte meg ikke helt til stede, litt småsyk/tom i hodet. Selv om tilbakemeldingene var positive, følte jeg det som alt jeg gjorde var mer eller mindre vilkårlig og at kontrollen manglet. Jeg skulle liksom returnere som stødig libero foran helgas viktige kamp, som vi tapte 3-2. Les kampreferatet her.

Sist helg slo vi Lier 3-2, uten å overbevise. Jeg spilte endelig kant, men fikk kun ett sett til tross for at min innsats var mer eller mindre feilfri. Dette var noe irriterende da mannskapet som var på surret en god del mot slutten av kampen. Kampreferat her.

Vorspiel, pinnekjøtt, dans, prat, underholdning og musikk er sentrale stikkord for det påfølgende julebordet samme lørdagskveld. Bildene forteller litt mer.

X: 10 best(e) feel-good hits

My mate Dag Yngve adores music, owning about 2000 CD and LP records. During his visit yesterday, he challenged me to compile a list of the top ten song that make me feel best within. There are piles of pop rock melancoly hits and a row of strong Christian worship tunes that all generate emotions and joy, but rarely carry the property of uniqueness needed to make the cut for the list. Keep in mind also that this does not say what songs I think are the very best, nor which ones I listen to the most.

The web master stresses that the list may be incomplete, and the order of the tracks may vary with my daily mood. I like lists. There may be more popping up int he near future. That most certainly goes for other life updates too – it is just a tad too much happening these days.

Having said that, have a peek at my list (artist first, then title) below the odd combinations of letters (Norwegian). Song 1, 3, 5 and 9 are (surprisingly to myself) in my mother tongue. Number 7 is from South Africa, partly in English.

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Min musikkdiggende venn Dag Yngve eier omkring 2000 CD- og LP-plagetr. I gå ba meg sette opp en liste til sin hjemmeside over de ti låtene som får meg til føle meg best i mitt indre. Det finnes mange rolige poprock hittene og en rekke kraftige worship-spor som kan generere flust av følelser og glede, men sjelden har den unikumsegenskapen som trengs for å figurere på en slik liste.

Under følger mitt ordinale utvalg (artist – tittel). Webansvarlig bedyrer at den kan være ufullstendig, og at rekkefølgend kan varierer med dagsformen. Husk også at dette ikke er synonymt med lista over de beste sangene eller de jeg hører mest på. Overraskende nok (i alle fall for min egen del) er både 1, 3, 5, og 9 norske. Nummer 7 er fra Sør-Afrika. Jeg liker lister. Det blir det nok flere av fremover (i likhet med litt flere ord fra de seneste opplevelsene i hverdagen).

1) Sigvart Dagsland - De umulige
2) Europe - The Final Countdown
3) Odd Nordstoga - Kveldssong for deg og meg
4) Good Charlotte - We believe
5) Ravi & DJ Løv - Tsjeriåu
6) U2 - Beautiful Day
7) Kwela - Emlanjeni
8) Twizted - Afraid of Me
9) Sander - Vi tar det som det kommer
10) Genesis - Congo

X: Divine drip 4/Himmeldrypp 4

An introduction and the former three parts can be found here.

What: Sermon in Assembly of God (AOG), Park Street, Melbourne (Australia), May 7, 2006
Who: Pastor in AOG
Scripture (part of the Bible): Samples from the book of Mark

* Before communion three joys of death on the cross was mentioned
- To be reunited with our Father
- That everything is laid by his feet (Eph 1:22)
- That it had a divine purpose

Sermon: Desperation

* In desperate situations people do and ask for desperate things
# Mark 5:21-43 (minus 25-34): One of the leaders of the synagoge left his (Jewish) religion desperate to get an answer (from Jesus). We do not get any answers if we do not ask.
# Mark 2:1-12: A paralyzed man and his friends where so desperate that they opened/destroyed the roof in house where Jesus was – just to meet him. Masses of listeners blocked them from entering. Fortunately the paralyzed had reliable friends.
# Mark 5:23-24: A lady crawls up and touces the cloth of Jesus, desperate to be healed from her many years of bleeding.
# Mark 7:24-30: A lady, whose dauther was posssed by evil spirits, fell at Jesus’ feet, desperate to have her daughter freed – although Jesus wanted to be alone.

Common for these people is that desperation is more important than social status and reputation. They did not feel worthy, but asked for help regardless.

* How desperate are you?
- What are your obstacles?
- Are the depression, need and the initiative greater than the hindrances; pride, opinions of others and social status?

* Faith in action is initiative
- Excercise faith
- Take initiative
– God will answer prayer

* Jesus is the only answer; God of the impossible

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En introduksjon til blogserien og de forrige tre bidragene finnes her.


Hva: Preken i Assembly of God (AOG), Park Street, Melbourne (Australia), 7. mai 2006
Hvem: Pastoren i AOG
Bibeltekst: Fra boka av Markus

* Før nattverden var det nevnt tre gleder man har på grunnet døden på korset
- Å bli gjenforent med Far
- At alt er underlagt hans føtter (Efeserne 1:22)
- At det hadde en himmelsk mening

* I desperate situasjoner gjør og spør folk om desperate ting.
- I Mark 5:21-43 (minuus 25-34) står det om en av synagogens ledere som gikk ut hans (jødiske) religion i desperasjon for å få svar (fra Jesus). Vi får ikke svar om vi ikke spør
- I Markus 2:1-12 står det om en lam og hans venner som var så desperate at de åpnet/ødela taket for å møte Jesus. De var hindret av mengden og bevegelighet – men den lamme hadde venner man kan stole på
- Mark 5:24-34 forteller om en dame med blødning som i desperasjon etter å bli frisk tok på Jesu klær.
- I Mark 7:24-30 kaster en kvinne seg ned for Herrens føtter selv om Jesus hadde bedt om at han tilstedeværelse ikke skulle bli kjent.

Gjengs er at desperasjonen ble viktigere enn sosial status og omdømme. De følte seg ikke verdige, men ba om hjelp uansett.

* Hvor desperat er du?
- Hva er dine hindringer?
- Er desperasjonen, behovet og dets initiativ større enn hindringene (stolthet, medmenneskers syn, sosial status)?

* Tro i aksjon er initiativ
- Utøv troen
- Ta initativ
- Gud vil svare dine bønner

Jesus er det eneste svaret. Gud for det umulige.

X: Flea spree/Loppedilla

Flea markets are cool. At least in Oslo. This fall has really revealed to me the numbered of treasures that hide between encyclopedias and old coats. Densely populated areas generate great selections where there will always be personal jewels at hand. I only got the chance to visit two fields of harvest before winter came along, but the reaping was groovy.

A mobile white screen (for projectors/slides) costed me only 30 kroner (USD 4.7) and a fully functional hammock 40 kroner (USD 6.2) – which is, at least in Norway, extremely cheap. The same can be said about my main “investments”; a palaroid camera (10 kroner/USD 1.6 !) and old time type writer (40 kroner). I do not know, or care, if they fully work or not (bought them for domestic “exhibition” purposes).

Earlier this semester I had a great urge to fit out my apartment-to-be-purchased solely with flea market and give-away articles – as far reasonably possible. This way I would save heaps of kroner (or dollars) and automatically institute an environmental and smashing original style for my movables.

Recycling is retro extreme!

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Loppemarked er kult. I alle fall i Oslo. I høst har jeg virkelig fått opp øynene får de mange skattene som virkelig skjuler seg mellom leksikon og gamle kåper. For med store publikum, blir det stort utvalgt og alltid et eller annet fancy å hente seg. Jeg fikk i grunn bare med meg to stykker før vinteren kom, men fikk til gjengjeld gjort noen ordentlige varp.

Et lerret med stativ til 30 kroner og en flott hengekøye til 40 er særdeles rimelig. Det samme kan sies om mine hovedfunn; et palaroid kamera og en gammeldags skrivemaskin. Å betale henholdsvis 10 (!) og 40 kroner er nærmest et ran – uavhengig om de virker eller ikke (noe jeg ikke vet).

Jeg fikk en visjon tidligere om at den dagen jeg kjøper meg leilighet skal jeg innrede bare med loppemarked og gi-bort artikler – i den grad det er mulig. Det kan jeg spare mye penger på, og samtidig få meg en miljøvennlig og pangoirinal innbostil.

Gjenbruk - gjenvinning - gjenommført seier.

X: Close joy / Nært og glad

We were extremely close. My volleyball team (1 div) lost the quarter final today by lousy three points in tie break. Final score 2-3 (26-24, 17-25, 25-20, 16-25, 12-15). Personally I am satisified with my own libero effort against old team mates (I played with while living in the north). Even though we are out of the cup, there is not much dissapointment to be traced within me or the rest of the team, as we had nothing to lose, everyone thought we would be mashed, and we proved all wrong. Nor would we be able to afford an advancement :)

Right after the game I went to a city cafe to celebrat father’s day with him, my brother and his wife and a friend of my dad. It is nice to

Last nite I heard Funky Baptized in concert after attending a festivity meeting for the Norwegian IFES organization, NKSS, during its general assembly.

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Vi var så nærme så nærme. OSI førstedivisjonslag tapte kvartfinalen i volleyballens Norgescup med usle tre poeng. Les kampreferatet mitt her. Personlig er jeg fornøyd med liberoinnsats mot gamle medspillere (BK Tromsø er i stor grad gamle Brøstadbotn jeg spilte på en gang). Selv om vi er slått ut, er det ikke så mye skuffelse og spore i meg selv og resten av lagskameratene, da vi absolutt ikke hadde noe å tape og var storfornøyd med å yppe litt med de store gutta.

Etter kamp dro jeg rett ned i byen på Den Gode Café med min far, en venn av ham (Vidar), min bror og hans kone (Ingunn Sofie). Det var tid for å ha litt familietreff og sette pris på fedrenes dag.

I går var for øvrig en stor kveld med ”Takk for Laget”, festivititene rundt NKSS’ generalforsamling (den kristne organiasjonen jeg har hatt desidert mest å gjøre med siden ungdomsskolen, og den tilhørende konserten med Funky Baptized.

X: Dead ironic/dødlig ironisk

After a couple of weeks with snow and cold, most of the white stuff and its underlying ice had melted by Tuesday. After cycling all the way to my study desk at uni, still without winter tires (on my bike), i plunge to the ground after a right turn about 40 meters from the main door entrance – the only icy area on my journey.

Minorily battered I get up and confirm that my body, bike and my portable mac (in my backpack) are without damages (unlike my camera in the Aussie crash). After a long day of research I go home, cook and chill for a bit while reading the newspaper. Before practice I quickly go upstairs to get ready for practice. Out of habit, I unpack my bag and am about to put the mac on my study desk. Though the zipper type bag is not fully closed, and the grey metal machinery slips out and hit the floor.

Now the result is a minor bump in the back left corner close to the power outlet. It is only a matter of a milimeter or two, everything still works, but attaching the power cord takes slightly longer than previously. And the value of the powerbook fell with the fall.

The irony: Crash in my room rather than the obvious cycle fall
The moral: most accidents are domestic (happen at home)

Halfway related to this entry is an article I read in VG, Norway’s most selling newspaper. A Danish investigation has quantized just how many deaths are related to stress. We push ourselves to the max to live what we see as complete lives – which, if done in excess, ironically can be the cause of casualty. The closest I came to an English equivilient was a page answering affirmative that stress can kill you.

People at risk are (and I translate/quote): people understimlated or ignored, who encouter stress, who are teased, those working excessively and those with socalled unlimited work; those who can work anywhere anytime without limites to what and how much that is to be produced.

Getting burned out or simply collapse of too much activity are causes of action I see as real dangerous – and neither unimaginable for myself. I am a fairly occupied character in my wake hours, and have friends who have taken leave from studies and work because of too much work or commotion.

Chill, people! And have a great (relaxing) day!

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Tirsdag morgen var en nokså av-iset dag. Etter å ha syklet hele veien til Institutt for Medier og kommunikasjon (ved Forskningsparken for de kjent i Oslo), går jeg i bakken rundt 40 meter fra inngangsdøra etter å ha tatt en sving på speilisen; som kun var i de få kvadratmetene utenfor bygget.

Småforslått reiser jeg meg opp igjen, og kan konstantere at verken kroppen, sykkelen eller macen, som ligger i sekken, har fått noen skader. Etter en lang lese-/jobbedag drar jeg hje, mekker middag, absorberer avisene og tar livet litt med ro en liten time. Så er det tid for trening. Jeg spretter opp på rommet i andretasjen, og skal bare kjapt pakke ut sakene ved å legge Powerbooken (min bærbare mac) på pulten. Glidelåsbagen er ikke helt glidd igjen, og følgelig sklir macen ut og faller rett i gulvet. Konsekvensen er at det ene bakre hjørnepartiet får en bulk rett ved strøminntaket. Det er snakk om en milimeter eller to, alt fungerer heldigvis, men maskinen datt nok i verdi. Og det å tilkoble strømledning til uttaket er litt seinere og hakket mer ustabilt enn før.

Ironien; krasj på rommet i stedet for den opplagte sykkelvelten
Moralen; de fleste ulykker skjer i hjemmet

Halvveis relatert er en sak i VG mandag om en at man kan dø av stress. Vi styrer og presser oss til det ytterste for å leve – som ved for mye innsats ironisk nok kan være vårt jordlige dødsstøt.

Folk i faresonen for å havne i kronisk stress er

”folk som blir understimulert eller oversett, oppleve stress, de som blir mobbet, de som jobber svært mye, og de som har såkalt grenseløst arbeid. De kan jobbe overalt, til alle tider og har uklare grenser for hva og hvor mye de skal produsere.”

Akkurat det med utbrenthet og kollaps av overarbeidethet tror jeg er en reell fare – og ikke helt utopisk for meg selv heller. Jeg er en nokså hengitt karakter i mine våkne timer, og har venner som har gått på sykemeldende smeller på grunn av overbelastning.

Ha en kontrollert og avslappende dag!

Blest før kvartfinalen

Volley Media er Norges nye, og godt brukte nyhetsportal for volleyball. I skrivende stunde er OSI hovedsaken.

Som kampreferent er det moro å lese at "OSI herrer har også noen av landets friskeste kampreferater".

Jeg har prøvd å fiske litt interesse hos Oslo-pressen, med "pressemeldinger" til Aftenposten, Dagsavisen og TV Norge (Oslo-TV). Vi får se om noen biter på. Klanen (supporterklubben til Vålrenga Idrettsforening) bet heller fra seg, etter jeg gjorde et PR-fremstøt på klubbens forum.

Kampen går altså søndag i Domus Athletica (Oslo), klokka 10:45. Inngang: 0 kr. Underholdningsverdi: Ubetalelig.

Alltid en mobilkampanje

Mitt siste lille bidrag til DinSide Økonomi tar for seg de nyeste bevegelsene hos landets mobilabonnementer.

E: Triple victory

A long weekend travel is completed, with good experiences, good friends and two good wins. Both yesterday and today we proved considerably stronger than Gløshaugen and Åsheim (match reports in Norwegian if clicking on the names).

I played libero as usual, and apparantely will keep doing so at least until after the quarter final next Sunday. I do not mind the position, and defintetly that I get to play on this good team (we are leading our division group), but look forward to a chance at actually do some net blocking and striking.

Attached is one of the mustache photos from those who deared to play the Saturday that way against the ”mustache city” team Gløshaugen.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
A thanks to Thor Oskar, Kristin, Torstein and Igor for making my Trondheim visit so memorable – in addition to the volleyball guys of course.

I write triple victory because the soccer team Tromsø managed to remain in the Norwegian elite league in today’s final round of the season.

E: To Trondheim with mustache

Yesterday I flew to Trondheim. The airline "Norwegian" was on the verge to go on a strike, but managed to negotiate a deal with the employers, nearly 20 hours after deadline.

The reason for my presence here is now to visit friends, including my best friend Thor Oskar (with whom I stay), and play volleyball on Saturday (versus NTNUI Gløshaugen) and Sunday (versus Åsheim).

Trondheim is nicknamed the city of mustache. Thus, most our team members will shave so that the only piece of beard tomorrow will be that under the nose. Pictures will come.

Lack of time and regular access to the Internet, may disallow me from further updates before returning to Oslo Sunday night.

I am currently working and doing fine. Winter has reached most of Norway now, and all the way from Oslo to the north is covered by the white element.