Norwegianne.net

Category: Personal

  • View from my window

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    The view from my window Sunday morning. Sky blue, clouds… and perfect autumn weather.

  • Changing my life?

    I’m doing a small life change. From January to June next year, I’ll be living in Oslo.

    I’m excited. I’m terrified. And I know that if I don’t like it, it will only be six months.

    And, while I don’t look forward to living in Oslo in January and February – I am very much looking forward to experiencing spring there.

    I have already started bookmarking museums that I want to visit, and cafés to go to.

    My next goal is to find a place to live.

  • Election 2013

    valgIt’s the Norwegian election day 2013. We’re voting for members of parliament today.

    I’m living in one of the test municipalities where we could vote via the Internet this year, so I did my voting weeks ago.

    I am going to watch the election coverage tonight, and there is enough the West Wing fangirl in me that I almost wish I had a whiteboard to follow the progress on.

    It will be interesting to see if we face a change in government, if the Socialist Left can stay above the Election threshold, if the new environmental party can get an election shocker and get above same threshold…

     

  • My fears

    Over the past couple of years, I’ve really become terrified of the thought of flying. I’ve never been super happy about it – I have a fear of heights, and therefore flying just feels slightly wrong in my mind.

    I can’t exactly pinpoint when that shifted though. I did have a miserable flight once from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, but blamed it on low blood sugar. However, after that, I ended up taking the train home a couple of times – and the other times when I did fly, it almost seemed like there was a major flight accident just before or after my flight somewhere else in the world.

    I do fly, and once I’m up in the air, it is usually okay (save for turbulence). But it is really the anticipation of it all, and taking off that gets to me.

    Urgh…

  • Electronic voting

    It’s an election year in Norway. September 9 is the big day. It’s a parliamentary election.

    This year, as they did with the county and municipal elections two years ago, my municipality is one of the twelve which have electronic voting.

    Essentially this means that I voted yesterday, in my bedroom on my iPad.

    I will also attempt to help my grandmother vote from the nursing home on the self-same iPad tomorrow. (I will log her on, and then turn away as she is deciding and voting.)

    I am amongst those who would have voted regardless of whether or not I had to go to my local school to do it, so in that way, I don’t think they’re gaining any votes from my part on this.

    However, I realize that there are others who don’t necessarily do that, in other parts of the country, and being a part of a trial e-vote municipality means that the results we provide means that they might have the option next time. Maybe.

    Anyway, the most irritating part of this process was that I’d forgot the password I use to log on to these government-run sites, and had to make a new one. The whole process took less than 10 minutes, and definitely much less time than voting at my local school.

  • Smell

    I am grateful for my sense of smell because it means the scent of a nice dinner spreading through the house increases the anticipation for it.

    Sometimes smell evokes memories. When I was in middle school, we would walk or bike past a huge cabbage field. Every autumn, after the harvest, the smell of over-ripe cabbage leftovers from the field would spread up to the bike path. I still remember that walk every time I smell cabbage. Of course, now, the cabbage field has been expropriated by the municipality, and there are houses being built.

    Not a huge fan of that.

  • Ducks

     

    The ducks have arrived for my birthday party later today. They will be swimming in a paddling pool as decoration.
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  • Turning 30

    I turn 30 today. Hints and tips for the next decade are welcome.

    Enough said.

  • To Anne, aged 13

    Dear Anne (13 years old),

    If this could get sent back in time – some things I have learned over the years that might have been useful to know back when I was 13.

    • Keep in touch with people like you did back then. 
    • Trying new things like going abroad to study – probably the best decision you’re going to make.
    • Studying is important, but so is the social bit. Go out even more.
    • Join more activities.
    • Don’t sweat the small stuff. The mathematics and science bits that you don’t pick up in the coming three years… well, you’ll never quite understand them. But so far, it hasn’t been a major problem.
    • You didn’t get sorted into the class you wanted for middle school. It was still a pretty great class. Stop obsessing about it.
    • Play outside more. Take up running. When something annoys you, go for a run.
    • You do well on oral exams. Not so well on written exams. It happens. The world isn’t ending because of that. Well, at least not yet.
    • Your sisters, annoying as they are now, are one of the best assets you’ll ever have. Treasure them.

     

    Love,

    Anne (Almost 30).