E: Czeching out

The abroad part of my broad range of summer activities has come to an end. From Friday till today (Thursday), the Czech Republic has been ridden by two best friend: Thor-Oskar and I. 10 years since we explored England through STS language course in Bournemouth, we once again left Norway together. The most important part of the journey, was traveling with him.

Most countries in the same region look alike. So do people. Still the differences which are fun revealing. Furthermore, my experience is that after paying a new country a visit, I see memories, life and images when looking at the map – rather than the somewhat dull green, brown and blue areas on the map. The Czech Republic has many cities with a dense concentration of stylish old Middle Age and Baroque buildings. Yet, there are (possibly due to an ignorant lack of background reasearch and history) not all that many must-see-unique-sites or particular famous museums or galliries needing to be paid a visit. I do not drink, but could observe that beer is cheaper than bottled water or soda. There are policemen in certain areas hired to control traffic lights manually in major intersections. School children spend time learning dancing in school. It is a long time since I needed more German than Enlighs to communicate with people (if not in in Germany). And marionette puppets are popular – and its theatre rocks :)

The weather has been wet and somewhat cool, but rather chilly than overheated. This allowed us to walk and cycle about the central European state. Observe a brief synopsis of the stay:
1) Praha (Sightseeing)
2) Kutná Hora (including the Sedlec Ossuary)
3) Liberec (visiting my friend Luke with girlfriend Claudia)
4) Vlachrabi (downhill mountain biking)
5) České Budějovice (walking around)
6) Český Krumlov (pictureqsque pearl)
7) Praha (pool, marionette puppet theatre)

Albeit being loaded with activities. I believe I probably think slightly less on activity-dense excursions. This, I believe is due to the amount of impressions in need of processing – which has to be delayed till later. It is similar to shooting a multiple photo series. You need to stop shooting to view, and even then it takes a little bit of time for the pictures to be accessible on the screen.

What can a week do to one’s life? Fairly little or quite a lot. I do not recall all working weeks the last couple of months, but it I would need a fairly solid knock on my head to wash this voyage out of my memory. We had a great week with new wisdom, thoughts, laughs and experiences.

Tomorrow I am off again for the weekend – this time to visit my friend Kjetil in his natural environment around Vennesla (close to Kristiansand) down south.

E: Fun list of annoyance

A follow up on the ”things to do when bored”. Here is a list of 25 ways to annoy someone. I do not enourage or wish to move people to annoy others, but appreciate a good laugh – at least by the thought of conducting these.

1. Sing the Batman theme incessantly.
2. Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."
3. Learn Morse code, and have conversations with friends in public
consisting entirely of "Beeeep Bip Bip Beeeep Bip..."
4. Push all the flat Lego pieces together tightly.
5. Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.
6. Name your dog "Dog."
7. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your "astronaut training."
8. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.
9. Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears.
10. Staple papers in the middle of the page.
11. Produce a rental video consisting entirely of dire FBI copyright warnings.
12. Honk and wave to strangers.
13. ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
14. dont use any punctuation either
15. Pay for your dinner with pennies.
16. Tie jingle bells to all your clothes.
17. Repeat everything someone says, as a question.
19. Repeat the following conversation a dozen times: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now."
20. Leave tips in Bolivian currency.
21. Lie obviously about trivial things such as the time of day.
22. Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.
23. Chew on pens that you've borrowed.
24. Sing along at the opera.
25. Select the same song on the jukebox fifty times.

Like the previous entry, I got the list of an internet site – this time Everything Under The Moon.

E: Wedding spree

This summer I was invited to six weddings, four of which I have RSVP-ed ”attending”.

On June 28th, the Saturday after my last day of work before summer holiday, I participated at my cousin’s wedding in Meløy (close to the city of Bodø, North of Norway) as photographer. There is something special about these kinds of festivities, particularly when you are related or close to the husband and/or wife: The sacred ceremony, the wedded excitement, the great food, the fun and thorough entertainment, the stunning scenic surroundings and the joy of observing the positive atmosphere in all of it.

From Tuesday through till today I have hung out in Bergen preparing for yesterday’s big day for Sathees – for whom I was the best man. Accommodated in the spacey house of his family-in-law together with a handful of friends of his (and mine), I have had an intense, but very rewarding week. Most of all because of the appreciation and gratitude shown by the fresh husband. This was my first time in a Catholic church ceremony and a the first time in a Tamil (style) wedding, with all its fascinating inputs. The dancing, food and display of big family community were lovely contributions.

Wednesday was the bachelor party with a trial about his wife-to-be and various tests at a local shopping mall (Lagunen): being a TV-reporter, helping shoppers with their bags and draw portraits. Later we played paintball and thereafter recorded a self-composed song in a music studio. All was conducted while he was dressed in a semi batman outfit. Everything was taped and shown in the wedding. In spite a bit of nerves and hesitation from the groom, he followed through on everything and really enjoyed himself. We all have some good laughs together, rather than us laughing at him.

Another highlight of the week was once hanging out with Sathees friends, many of whom are friends of mine too from the good old high school days. It felt like a small reunion.

Weddings are awesome. I sure gain lots of experience I can apply when I get married myself one of these years :)

X: 10 year reunion / Klassegjenforening

10 years ago class of ’98 left grade school at Elvetun in Brøstadbotn. This was thoroughly marked with a reunion party Saturday. Out of the 19 graduating students then, an impressive 13 came for the celebration. Two have passed away since 1998 (Rest in peace), and the remaing four had valid reasons for absence. Additionally, of our main teachers came by.


While walking down a nice memory lane, a tasty barbeque came about, old pictures were projected and rewarding conversations held. The midnight sun does not set, and the happening did not cease until way into Sunday. I had a great time.

It became very clear to me how neither class room, the school building, the curriculum nor the diploma make up a class. It is the students. This was not a random gathering of young peers. This was a unity. The class of 1998.

---

I år er det 10 år siden mitt årskull steg ut av grunnskolen. For elevene fra Elvetun skole i Brøstadbotn ble dette markert med en real gjenforeningsfest lørdag. Vi var 19 som mottok vitnemål i 1998. Siden den gang har majoriteten flyttet ut av kommunen, mens to av guttene, Steffen (2001) og Kristell (2007) har gått bort (Fred være med dem). Dermed var det imponerende med at hele 13 av elevene hadde anledning og lyst til å møte opp. I tillegg kom tre av lærerne våre innom.

I båthavna med brufoten, i lokalet ”Bølgen”, oppstod god stemning mens smakende grillmat ble tilberedt, fine minner fremkalt, gamle bilder fremvist på pc-skjerm og flotte samtaler åpnet. Jeg var litt spent på hvordan det skulle bli før ankomst, men koste meg i store doser. Midnattsola går ikke ned, og forsamlingen holdt det gående godt inn i søndagen. Det ble veldig klart for meg hvordan verken klasserom, skolebygg, pensum eller vitnemål utgjør en klasse. Det er elevene, det er oss. Det var ikke nødvendig med fine taler eller masser av program. Den feststemte gjengen var mer enn en gruppe tilfeldig jevnaldrende. Det var en enhet. En klasse. Vår klasse.

E: Things to do when bored

This is a selection from a list made by Urban75.org. Ironically I am posting this because I have too much to do right now to properly discuss my recent days of insights and revelations – AND because I found the list somewhat funny. Making lists in general are, I find, and can spark creativity. This list however, encourages timewasting rather than efficiency.

• Blink wildly and then close your eyes really tight for an interesting light show
• See how long you can hold a note or noise.
• Try to not think about penguins
• Pretend you're a robot
• Scratch yourself
• Repeat the same word over and over until it loses its meaning
• Pretend to be a car
• Stand by an electric door to a bank or something and make that silly "Scccccccchwop" sound.
• Look at something for awhile, shut eyes, study after image
• Make a low buzzing noise
• See what's in your neighbour's rubbish/trash
• Watch TV, repeat everything said in Italian accent
• Step off a curb with eyes shut, imagine it's a cliff
• Burn things with a magnifying glass
• Have a water gargling contest
• Stare at the back of someone's head until they turn around (This works on the "I have the feeling I'm being watched" principle. Conduct an experiment-does this really work?)
• Have a "Who is less competitive" competition
wonder (Trying to win at this will make you lose. Trying to lose makes you win which makes you lose. Not trying at all makes you lose which makes you win which makes you lose.
• Pick up a dog so it can see things from your point of view
• Pull out a hair, stick in someone's ear (Best done to sleeping people)
• Pour water in hand, make sneeze noise, throw water on back of person's neck
• Mow your lawn with scissors.
• Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.

E: Online clips 31

Watch how an excellent performance of playing Super Mario Bros matches amazingly well with some Asian children hit song.

Have you ever seen ladder racing? Well, here is your chance.

I am fascinated how there is composed so many new songs all the time, simultaneously, by different artist all around the world. Sometimes, however, one cannot avoid bits of recycling. Some claim there is nothing but reusing happening today. Here is a an example of how six songs collide.

I miss Taco Bell, a Mexican fast food chain in the US. I also enjoy rap and originality. I present to you a mixture of all three.

Finally, a Norwegian soft news story. The senior high school year in Norway, before graduating (May 1-17), we celebrate, dress up in similar clothing matching the type of high school branch chosen, and go wild through a concept named ”russ”. This is said to be fairly unique for our northern country. Anyway, in the bigger cities you have vast parties where seniors from around the place can bring their customized cars, vans or busses with their own design, colors and music sound systems. Certain people (from Asker) chip in about 8000 dollars all in all. The richest kids (Bærum) display a 300,000 dollar bus. Way overkill. Insane.

Agenda-sommer

Månedsmagasinet Agenda 3:16 kommer ut 11 ganger i året. Sommernummeret er nemlig et dobbeltnummer, Nr 6/7, som er 84 sider – i motsetning til de vanlige 60. Hovedsaken og det geniale forsidebildet er hentet fra et syekehus i Nepal.

Mine bidrag som gjengis på nettsiden er

Store grupper over lave terskler

Noe er på gang i Alta

og

Unge døråpnere


God prøvelesning!

PS: Visste du at det bare koster 29 kroner per måned å prøve Agenda 3:16 et år. Det like mye som en liter melk og et brød. Dette er selvsagt ren folkeinformasjon og ingen form for snikreklame.