E: Mali voyage set

This week my Mali journey was finally booked and confirmed. At the end of January I will spend over two weeks out of office, heading to a cultural junction of West Africa. The republic populated with 11.2 million inhabitants is in a cool season at the time, the temperature dropping to close to 30 degrees Celsius daytime :). Exactly what I will do from arrival to departure is not all set, but chances are great I will visit the cities where Normisjon, the mission organization owning the magazine which employs me, has most of its work: Bamako (capital), Bafoulabe, Tamaga and Oussoubidanja are situated from south central to the west side of the country. More details will be given as departure is nearing.

Flight itinerary:
19. jan: Oslo - Paris
22. jan: Paris - Bamako (Mali)
5. feb - 6. feb: Bamako - Paris
6. feb: Paris - Amsterdam
7. feb: Amsterdam - Oslo

The weekend upon arrival I will be spending in Paris. I have never been in the French capital. Other than seeing a few of the sites (like the Eiffel tower and the Louvre), I will be hanging with my very cool former French housemate Alix (in the middle, pic on left. Devan and Jackie are two other awesome aussies with whom I shared house), whom I lived with in Melbourne at the beginning of last year. I also get to practice and learn some more French. The course is still running, and I gradually pick up more and more as the weeks go by. But as I do not have much spare time in between the couple-of-hours class every Monday night, I do not progress as quickly as I would like. I do not struggle to understand the grammar, but more to remember all the words and the various pronunciations – as the words and sounds do not really correlate all that well :) At least not in comparison with Spanish, a language which I mix some things with now and then. But all in all I am getting somewhere.

On the way back, I will have a day of stopover in Amsterdam. Here I will meet Arosha (pic on right), a bright and beautiful woman from Sri Lanka. She is currently working in the Netherlands, but this is also a lady I made friends with Down Under.

I was able to get the stopovers for the same price as the initial non-stop ticket, after a bit of negotiations and a bit of travel research. This way my traveling is covered by work. I am excited to get traveling again, but normally don’t take off before the plane does :)

E: Online clips 25

Michael Moore’s Sicko attacks the American health system. I have not seen the movie, but I believe this segment about Norway was left out. Although he ridicules a bit with the way a few (far from all) prisoners are treated on their way to readjust to society, Moore idealizes our national advantages.

Britain got talents. One of them is the opera singer Paul Pott. A recent one is 6-year old Connie. She impressed me during her first appearance. She made it through to the final, and this clip shows her singing there.

A little less serios is this farting fellow appearing in a the Norwegian Friday night entertainment show "Senkveld med Thomas og Harald".

Another incident is this big parade-like happening where a pigeon is supposed to take off in the end. I could not help crack up, although things do not go as planned.

There are thousands of items sold on various tv-shop programs. Most presentations go really well, but every so often something is bound to fail. And when it does, it is repeated over and over again. Enjoy the ladder.

E: Another volleyball loss

5 losses in 7 season matches is horrible. Other than a second place in a league tournament a few weeks ago, there has been very many almost-but-not-good-enough games. I cannot remember a worse beginning of the seeason with OSI before. Saturday we lost 1-3 against Kolbotn.

Personlly I did not get to play until close to halfway in the fouth and final game. For the 20 points or so I was on the court, I had very good passing and no mistakes in offense. Sadly, it was not enough to alter the outcome.

My match report in Norwegian here.

X: Uncle-to-be/Snart onkel Sindre

Finally, I am allowed to share the happiest news in a long long time. My sister-in-law Ingunn Sofie, is pregnant! My brother called me Thursday to share the most uplifting news. There is close to two months since life begun, and the big introduction to the world will take place next summer.

It is hard to explain the reaction of the joyous news and tough to provide really insightful data at this stage. I am happy to become an uncle nontheless. YEAH!

---

Endelig har jeg fått lov til å slippe munnkurven: Min svigersøster Ingunn Sofie er gravid! Min kjære bror ringte torsdag for å dele den svært så gledelige nyheten. Det er snart et par måneder siden livet begynte, og verdenslanseringen er satt opp til sommeren 2008.

Det var og er vanskelig å finne ord som beskriver gleden over at den nære familie vokser, og vissheten om jeg til sommeren kan kalles onkel! De viktigste begivenheter er oftest de vanskeligste å sette gode ord eller tanker på.

X: Insurance hilarity/Forsikringsleven

It is Friday, weekend and time for a bit of insurance claim humor. Below are 20 selected highlights from a list of quotes from actual traffic incidents, snitched from the net.

1) Going to work at 7am this morning I drove out of my drive straight into a bus. The bus was 5 minutes early.
2) The accident happened because I had one eye on the lorry in front, one eye on the pedestrian and the other on the car behind.
3) I pulled into a lay-by with smoke coming from under the hood. I realised the car was on fire so took my dog and smothered it with a blanket.
4) Q: Could either driver have done anything to avoid the accident? A: Travelled by bus?
5) I knew the dog was possessive about the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was any risk."
6) Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo.
7) The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again
8) I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
9) A pedestrian hit me and went under my car
10) In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.
11) I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.
12) An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.
13) Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.
14) I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
15) I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.
16) I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car.
17) The gentleman behind me struck me on the backside. He then went to rest in a bush with just his rear end showing.
18) When I saw I could not avoid a collision I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car.
19) The pedestrian ran for the pavement, but I got him.
20) The accident was caused by me waving to the man I hit last week."

---

Litt fredagshygge. Her er 15 utvalgte utrolige skademelinger fra den norske trafikkvirkeligheten. DinSide har et lengre utvalg av listen for verserer på nettet. Den engelske oversikten overfor er helt andre hendelser.

1) "Hunden var sort og lite synlig i mørket. Etter sammenstøtet oppførte den seg litt merkelig, men hundens eier opplyste senere at den aldri hadde vært helt god."
2) "Plutselig grep brøytekanten tak i forhjulet mitt og dro bilen rundt så den traff en stolpe."
3) "Jeg kom kjørende mot nevnte kryss, senket farten, så meg godt om, kjørte så ut i krysset - og traff hr. Pettersen. Dette er for meg en helt vanlig prosedyre."
4) "For et valg! Skulle jeg treffe bil B eller bil C? Jeg traff begge!"
5) "Jeg er ikke ute etter å forskyve skyld eller fraskrive meg ansvar, men kan bare konstatere fakta, og det ser svært dårlig ut for min del."
6) "Det var akkurat ikke plass til to biler i bredden. Oppdaget vi."
7) "Jeg vil si at jeg har 50 % skyld og motparten 75 %."
8) "Det hele var min skyld, men fører B sa at det var OK og at jeg bare skulle glemme skadene på hans bil. Det skulle han få fikset selv, sa han. Det viktigste for ham var at kona aldri fikk vite at han hadde vært akkurat der akkurat da."
9) "Det går ikke an å påstå at jeg holdt for stor fart. Bilen ble dyttet av min 72 år gamle søster."
10) "Vi kolliderte bare litt."
11) "Jeg vil gjerne gjøre oppmerksom på at vanligvis kjører jeg alltid veldig forsiktig i den svingen."
12) "Jeg kjørte aldeles ikke for fort. Jeg hadde jo to koldtbord bak i bilen!"
13) "Jeg fullførte svingen etter at veien hadde rettet seg ut."
14) "Ulykken kunne vært unngått hvis begge hadde klart å stoppe."
15) "Beklager håndskriften, men det at jeg skriver som en gris betyr ikke at jeg kjører som en."

Krakilsk nederlag

Det endte håpløst dårlig i gårdagens midtukekamp mot Spirit Lørenskog i 1. divisjon herrer, avdeling 1. Jeg var svært så innstilt, men samtidig ikke helt til stede. Jeg manglet også roen i kroppen til å stå så støtt i forsvar som jeg ønsket.

Det korte kamprefereratet er i alle fall her.

E: Divine drip 13

Here are some more insightful memos from purposedrivenlife.com.

God is like a dad who when playing “hide and seek they always get found, but they have a hard time finding you”. That is, God know exactly where (and how) you are, but keeps his distance for your dignity if you do not wanna be with him. At the same time he is like a dinosaur behind a palm tree for those who are actually searching. Read devotional.


The devotional “Putting ‘fun’ back in dysfunctional” list a range of uplifting Bible verses good to read when the going gets tough.

We can and ought to strive for being like Jesus. But we are never ever able to fully enter His world. But he already came to ours. Being Christian and being human is not about always praying and reading the Bible. It is about including God in your everyday activities and as for His guidance in everything you do – be it volleyball, work or studies. Full text here.

X: Mentorinput

Last Sunday I spoke about my life with theologist and friend – in a mentor type conversation. Some of the thoughts generated in my head that day are put into text below:
* Can time usage be normative? Can the amount of time spent on something be characterized as right or wrong?
* I sometimes stress, which is not good. But in general I do not need to be less active, but rather reduce the number of activities (and spend more time on these). This is probably also valid for my friends. I should be better to contrast with spending much and little time between different individuals, so that not all feel semi-included as I am all over the place a few times too many.
* I believe being with a girlfriend (and hopefully a wife down the line). But do I have sufficiently tranquility within to really see people these days? Moving rapidly allows you to see much, but what you see is less nuanced.
* What is my drive of motivation: do I go for what I want or what I feel I should? It does not have to be a contradiction, but can be.
* An overall analogy for my relational practice: I am a foundation wall builder. I meet lots of people and establish a good creation. But because of my long row of friendship monogamy, I have too little groups of friends outside of volleyball, I do not get sufficiently with time to furnish the place. A parallel example is going a abroad for exchange; it takes about one semester to get established and make friends. The latter half is where one can really benefit/gain from it – and enjoy the stay to the full.

---

Forrige søndag var jeg i Halden for å møte Sigvald. Jeg møtte den nordnorske teologen til samtale om livet – i en slags medvandrer-, rådgivnings- og/eller mentor-setting. Sammenkomstens refleksjonsspørsmål genererte en og annen tanke jeg satte pris på å ha i hodet. Da du allerede er inne på en nettside hvis motivasjon er å finne skriblerier med min signatur, tar jeg sjansen på å dele litt selvinnsikt.
* Kan tidsbruk være normativt? Er det riktig eller galt å bruke mye/mindre tid på noe? Travelhet trenger ikke å være negativt. Men kan den blokkere for å bruke/ha/finne (nye) sider med meg selv?
* Jeg har ikke nødvendigvis behov for å bruke mindre tid på ting, men vil gjør færre ting mer skikkelig. Mengde aktiviteter og intensitet må ned, men jeg har ikke behov for å ha mer tid uten at noe skjer.
* Jeg tror jeg vil oppnå mer ro i livet ved å finne en kjæreste. Men har jeg nok tid/ro til å finne noen? Om man går fort frem, får man sett mye, men det meste mindre nøye.
* Hva slags drivkraft har jeg; lyst eller lurt? Disse behøver ikke ha motsetninger, men kan ha det.
* Jeg har levd et relasjonsliv som har vært mye i øyeblikket, men lite til stede før og etter. Brukbart med kvalitet, kanskje mindre kvantitet enn det som sunt er. Billedlig talt er jeg grunnmursbygger, men sjelden hatt tid til å kle huset. kanskje får tatt skikkelig del i ”avkastningen”, å kle/innrede bygget, av å bruke mye tid med folk. En parallell er det å flytte til et nytt sted (f.eks på utveksling til et annet land). Det tar rundt et halvt år å komme skikkelig på plass, som gjør at siste halvdel kan brukes til å virkelig få avkastning for innsatsen. Men om man bare er et halvt år...
* Kanskje jeg må bli enda flinkere til å variere type relasjoner; fra de nære, intense, til perifere, fjerne.

X: List itch / Listekløe

A weekly written challenge pops up on the wall in the bathroom in the apartment, in which I live. This is to inspire creativity and trig the humor amongst the flatmates. Starting now, I will refer some highlights from the former lists, beginning with last week. Lists are cool.

Challenge posted week 45:
Interesting places to run (fake) ticket controls

1) In an airplane (after takeoff)
2) In the movie theatre
3) At a church service
4) At the parliament
5) At a nudist beach
6) In front of the ticket boot
7) The local prison
8) In our apartment
9) Oslo main street (Karl Johan)
10) At the bathroom
11) Day of the volunteers
12) During an army exercise
13) Marinas Trench


---

Jeg bor med to flotte, omtenksomme og reflektere karer. Ikke minst er det mye moro med oss tre i andre etasje i Anton Shjøths gate 10a. På badet/do henges hver uke opp en ny utfordring for å pirre kreativiteten og trigge humoren hos beboerne. Noen uker fører til ekstra mye skriblerier, og jeg kjenner det er dags for å begynne å gjengi noen høydepunkter fra ukene som har gått. Jeg starter med å gjengi et uvalg av svarene fra forrige uke, uke 45. Lister er kult.

Utfordring uke 45
Interessante steder å ha (liksom) billettkontroll

1) I et fly (etter avgang)
2) Kinosal
3) Gudstjeneste
4) Stortinget
5) Midt i Oslofjordtunellen
6) Nudiststrand
7) Foran billettluka
8) Oslo kretsfengsel
9) Anton Schjøths gate 10a
10) Karl Johan
11) På do
12) De frivilliges dag
13) Forsvaret (på øvelse)
14) Marianagropen

E: upstanding thoughts

Tonight my two housemates and I went for a stand-up show at Latter at Aker brygge in Oslo. The last comedian standing, Jonna Støme (pic), really had the laughter going for me, for all, while the other three had mediocre performences.

The audience at a stand-up is generally easier to please than other crowds, as people come to laugh. They are tuned in for jokes. Thus, there seems always to be someone out there laughing – for any witty comment, or seemingly any comment at all. Alcohol probably helps the already fully wired laughing machines around the locales.

At the same time, the audience has paid to be entertained. They demand to crack big smiles. I admire the characters who enter the stage, trying to charm a herd they do not know who are, nor their humor. There is no universal rule for what funny is. Also, the different comedians are automatically compared. To the be first seems to require most guts, but winding up last or right after a really good one must play with the minds of the performers.

Furthermore, there seems to be an unspoken rule that the overall amusement must contain sex, foul language and body sizes or other features for certain groups of people. This can be done in a funny way, particularly for the comedians with a good dosage of self-irony.

Overall, us lads had a good time together, and it may have lead to a stand-up gig concept at our apartment (for us living there only).

Helsemirakelet Erlend

Da jeg kom til Oslo i 2002, flyttet jeg inn i Lagskollektivet. I hus A (nærmest på bilde) bodde jeg sammen med blant annet Erlend Hareide. Han var en råenergisk sjel med mye liv, humor og kunnskap. Studiene gikk til jus og historie, mens mye av fritida innebar kristent engasjement. I løpet av tida bemerket han stundom et nedsatt energinivå, uten at han selv eller oss andre tenkte det var en overbelastning og får mye innsats. Det skulle dog vise seg å være ME (Myalgisk Encefalomyelitt) – kronisk utmattelsessyndrom. Erlend var hele tiden optimist, men tross ulik behandling, ble han stadig slappere. Etter å ha flyttet hjem til Mandal, hadde han etter hvert ikke engang krefter til å sende/motta SMS. Han ble etter hvert isolert, uten lys, lyd og aktivitet. Selv om jeg ba – var jeg mest trist fordi jeg ikke så hvordan ting kunne ordne seg igjen. Som et av mange forsøk, havnet han hos en australier med noen kinesiske metoder. Og dette skulle vise seg på uvirkelig kort tid å få Erlend opp på fote igjen. Amen. Han har fortsatt mye igjen til å bli helt på høyden, slik han var før det hele begynte, men at han faktisk er i virke igjen, og kan gå og trene selv er helt utrolig.

Jeg håper å snart få møte ham igjen, når han er klar til å ta imot besøk.

Les historien om Erlend i Dagbladet.

E: I have learned...

Today I received an e-mail of this list of gained experience, with which I can associate myself.

All sentences are to begin with ”I've learned....”
* That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
* That when you're in love, it shows.
* That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.
* That being kind is more important than being right.
* That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
* That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
* That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
* That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
* That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
* That love, not time, heals all wounds.
* That the a good way to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

E: Music break-through warning

The Fernets is a up and coming rock band from the city of Tromsø, in the north of Norway. After a couple of years of getting a name and staging various concerts around the country, it was finally time for a debut album. A Norwegian critique gave them 5 out of 6 points. I was at their release concert in Oslo and liked what I heard. Although some of the songs are a bit too sound-loaded according to my taste, there is no doubt about their ability to play, sing and live music.

I must say I am semi biased by the fact that the drummer and bass guitar player are (brothers and sons of my mom’s sister, therefore my) my cousins. Thus I encourage you to listen to some sample songs on their myspace page to judge for yourself.

Recently a semi-professional, but very amusing music video was made, and it is now available at YouTube.

Syndsbekjennelse i sju episoder

I går sendte TV 2 første episode av «De syv dødssyndene» ut på eteren. Som kristen og medieviter (per definisjon; dette skjer når man har mastergrad i medievitenskap) følte jeg det ble uriktig å mene for mye om konseptet før jeg hadde tatt en titt selv. Kristopher Schau tester om helvete finnes ved systematisk å bryte de moralske hovedreglene satt opp av kirken på 600-tallet. Forfengelighet var først ut, som ble utfordret ved å ta plastisk kirurgi (tukle med skaperverket) og sprøyte inn antirynkemidler i panna (dyrke evig ungdom) i Los Angeles, og deretter kle seg opp som drag-queen (hengi seg til pervers synd) i Las Vegas.

Jeg klarte ikke å la meg provosere, selv om få vil betvile at dette kan kalles blasfemi eller brudd mot det andre bud (de Moses fikk på steintavlene, ikke kirkas sjupunktsliste i etterkant) med at man ikke skal misbruke Guds navn. Fra kristendommen ankom landet, har den vært utsatt for ulike former for verbale, fysiske, kunstneriske, psykiske og åndelige angrep. Særlig i kunst og meningsytringer har troa, ofte symbolisert med korset eller Jesus, blitt fremstilt og spottet i alle mulige formater, fra karikaturer og stand-up til utstillinger der Jesu død på korset har blitt presentert både med urin og sæd. Kanskje er det derfor jeg ikke reagerer mer enn jeg gjør. Og kanskje dette er grunnen til at produsentene kan gå trygt på gaten uten frykt for å bli stukket ned slik Theo van Gogh ble det i Nederland etter kortfilmen Submission om islams kvinnesyn. Når man kødder med Gud skal ikke alltid det andre kinn vendes til, men vold vil ikke forbedre syn på troende eller toleranse for ytringsfriheten.

En annen grunn til mitt lave utslag av provokasjon er kanskje fordi jeg ikke kjenner at mitt trosfundament rikkes av en slik serie. Jesus er, var og blir akkurat like reell. Samtidig vet jeg at andre egges grenseløst over serien – lenge før den kom på lufta. Det skal mye til at sinnet mitt settes i kok, men jeg vet at en tilsvarende serie om rasisme eller annen form for diskriminering ville hatt mye større sjanse for å få meg med ut i protesttog – av grunnene nevnt over.

Når det er skrevet, mener jeg absolutt at dette er alvorlige saker med tanke på konsekvensene et liv uten frelse har å si for evigheten. Likevel blir blir Schau for meg en slags moralist, bare at han går mot den kristne moralen. I motsetning til samfunnet ellers, kanskje særlig underholdningsbransjens fester, filmer, tv-produksjoner og blader, stiller han spørsmål ved moralske aspekter av samtidens livsstil som mange er likegyldige til. Selv om han møter det syndige med en skøyeraktig mine, virker programmet å ha en helt klar oppfatning av at dette er kjøreregler noen holder høyt og dermed blir det tabuer og grenser som kan brytes. Det blir som en filmatisert syndsbekjennelse, bare at det syndes med overlegg og at snakk om tilgivelse tidligst vil komme i siste episode – selv om jeg ikke tror Schau har tatt imot frelsen, i alle fall ikke ennå. Om ikke annet, kan denne ukas snakkis faktisk føre til gode og viktige samtaler om moral, synd og fortapelse.