Man, that last post was a long one. Just had to point that out to y'all.
Yep, still neurotic,
Elise
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
New post! Yey!
Gawd.
It's been ages since I've posted something on my blog. Yarr. Not good. Not good at all. You may ask "for what reason?", to which my reply will be "partly due to laziness and work." Contradictory, yes, but true.
Up until now I've been working for 2 weeks and 2 days (and counting) in the Sterilization Unit at the University Hospital of Stavanger; the same workplace as in the two previous summers. Fun? To some extent. Challenging? To some extent. Good pay? OH YEAH!!! *lol* I'll be working there the next 3 weeks (with this week included) and after that I'll be heading off to... wherever I'll be heading off to.
I can't wait to go back to school again and feel stressed out! Sounds weird, but as of now it's true. I think I've said this before, but this year was a completely non-stressing and dare I say very dull (at the end of it, that is), so I hope you guys understand why I'm acting so nerdy at the moment.
I really do like studying. I like working hard with papers and essays; learning something I'm really interested in and doing my best at it. I don't mind getting a good grade either, for that matter. ;-) However, sometimes I think my perfectionist self is getting a little too carried away and I end up spending time worrying about teeny trifles instead of the 'big picture', if you get my drift. That's my problem, you see; I have a tendency of being an over-perfectionist (is that even a word?). Let me correct that: I have a tendency of being too much of a perfectionist. There. That's better.
You see my point? Everything has to be just like that. And I won't take anything less. Annoying not only to others, but also myself. I dwell too much over sentence structure, the meaning of words and the meaning of the sentence as a whole. I want to make it seem impeccable to myself before I can turn any sort of work in to teachers. A virtue, perhaps - but too much of it can go to your head. I believe it does so with me sometimes.
Anyway, enough of that. Today is the 27th and I'm supposed to receive my grade transcript for Spanish. I was so excited today at work that hardly anything else filled my mind. Almost. I got home today and checked my mailbox, but NO! NO FRIGGIN' GRADE TRANSCRIPT THERE! Yaaaaar! And only 4 - that is, FOUR - days until I have to send in the rest of my grades, etc. to the uni that's processing my application. I just wanna get the friggin' grades, photocopy them, send them off and be done with it. Well, I still have time. But even though that's the case, I'd feel more at ease if I got the stuff promised me at the exact date. Meticulous? Neurotic? Me? Poor little innocent me? Never. *irony* I'll keep my fingers crossed that I'll get it tomorrow. But it's still annoying.
Speaking of tomorrow, I'm also quite anxious about my practical driving exam. I'll be having mine quite early, at 8:10am or something like that, which means I'll have to take the 7am train to Egersund and get rid of some nervousness before the whole shebang commences. I. Am. So. Scared. There's supposed to be this kind of safety control of the car before I actually get to drive, and I haven't actually been studying the pointers that much... Not implying at all that I don't know anything whatsoever about how to answer the potential questions I'll get from the examiner. Ugh.
I've gone through the whole thing occasionally throughout the year, so most of the stuff has been sticking to my temporal lobe for quite some time. The only thing I hope I won't be asked is about the headlights. We're supposed to know how to check if the so-called "main lights" have been installed correctly (have no clue at all how to check that! Do you just kinda turn on the long-distance headlight and shift it back and forth a while between that and the short-distance headlights? Do you dive under the hood and check there? I DON'T KNOW!!!). We're also supposed to show that the reflectors, etc. aren't dirty or broken. See, I can do that, but am I supposed to dive under the hood again and unscrew everything to get to the reflectors inside the protective glass just to clean it? Sounds absurd to me. I really, really hope I won't have to answer that part. Unless God thinks to himself that "hey, I haven't pulled a joke with Elise for ages. Hm, today's her driving practical. Perfect timing." *sigh* Indeed.
Me? Nervous? Gee, how can you tell?
No really, I am very, very nervous - as I tend to be for all kinds of tests. When I'm nervous, though, it tends to be a good sign. Now, however, I'm not sure. It's been ages since I've had a practical exam. Heck, I haven't really had a practical exam before. Theory I can do, but practice...? Time will tell, I guess. I'll keep my fingers crossed, pray and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. My new mantra, FYI.
Always neurotic,
Elise
It's been ages since I've posted something on my blog. Yarr. Not good. Not good at all. You may ask "for what reason?", to which my reply will be "partly due to laziness and work." Contradictory, yes, but true.
Up until now I've been working for 2 weeks and 2 days (and counting) in the Sterilization Unit at the University Hospital of Stavanger; the same workplace as in the two previous summers. Fun? To some extent. Challenging? To some extent. Good pay? OH YEAH!!! *lol* I'll be working there the next 3 weeks (with this week included) and after that I'll be heading off to... wherever I'll be heading off to.
I can't wait to go back to school again and feel stressed out! Sounds weird, but as of now it's true. I think I've said this before, but this year was a completely non-stressing and dare I say very dull (at the end of it, that is), so I hope you guys understand why I'm acting so nerdy at the moment.
I really do like studying. I like working hard with papers and essays; learning something I'm really interested in and doing my best at it. I don't mind getting a good grade either, for that matter. ;-) However, sometimes I think my perfectionist self is getting a little too carried away and I end up spending time worrying about teeny trifles instead of the 'big picture', if you get my drift. That's my problem, you see; I have a tendency of being an over-perfectionist (is that even a word?). Let me correct that: I have a tendency of being too much of a perfectionist. There. That's better.
You see my point? Everything has to be just like that. And I won't take anything less. Annoying not only to others, but also myself. I dwell too much over sentence structure, the meaning of words and the meaning of the sentence as a whole. I want to make it seem impeccable to myself before I can turn any sort of work in to teachers. A virtue, perhaps - but too much of it can go to your head. I believe it does so with me sometimes.
Anyway, enough of that. Today is the 27th and I'm supposed to receive my grade transcript for Spanish. I was so excited today at work that hardly anything else filled my mind. Almost. I got home today and checked my mailbox, but NO! NO FRIGGIN' GRADE TRANSCRIPT THERE! Yaaaaar! And only 4 - that is, FOUR - days until I have to send in the rest of my grades, etc. to the uni that's processing my application. I just wanna get the friggin' grades, photocopy them, send them off and be done with it. Well, I still have time. But even though that's the case, I'd feel more at ease if I got the stuff promised me at the exact date. Meticulous? Neurotic? Me? Poor little innocent me? Never. *irony* I'll keep my fingers crossed that I'll get it tomorrow. But it's still annoying.
Speaking of tomorrow, I'm also quite anxious about my practical driving exam. I'll be having mine quite early, at 8:10am or something like that, which means I'll have to take the 7am train to Egersund and get rid of some nervousness before the whole shebang commences. I. Am. So. Scared. There's supposed to be this kind of safety control of the car before I actually get to drive, and I haven't actually been studying the pointers that much... Not implying at all that I don't know anything whatsoever about how to answer the potential questions I'll get from the examiner. Ugh.
I've gone through the whole thing occasionally throughout the year, so most of the stuff has been sticking to my temporal lobe for quite some time. The only thing I hope I won't be asked is about the headlights. We're supposed to know how to check if the so-called "main lights" have been installed correctly (have no clue at all how to check that! Do you just kinda turn on the long-distance headlight and shift it back and forth a while between that and the short-distance headlights? Do you dive under the hood and check there? I DON'T KNOW!!!). We're also supposed to show that the reflectors, etc. aren't dirty or broken. See, I can do that, but am I supposed to dive under the hood again and unscrew everything to get to the reflectors inside the protective glass just to clean it? Sounds absurd to me. I really, really hope I won't have to answer that part. Unless God thinks to himself that "hey, I haven't pulled a joke with Elise for ages. Hm, today's her driving practical. Perfect timing." *sigh* Indeed.
Me? Nervous? Gee, how can you tell?
No really, I am very, very nervous - as I tend to be for all kinds of tests. When I'm nervous, though, it tends to be a good sign. Now, however, I'm not sure. It's been ages since I've had a practical exam. Heck, I haven't really had a practical exam before. Theory I can do, but practice...? Time will tell, I guess. I'll keep my fingers crossed, pray and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. Chill out and hope for the best. My new mantra, FYI.
Always neurotic,
Elise
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Faith... and the lack of it.
Why are there so few believers these days? Why are there so few Catholics - let alone Christians in general - in the western world today? To be honest, I don't like it that much, but there isn't that much I can do about it.
I guess there are many answers to these questions. Maybe faith has something to do with dependency on objects. Materialism. Maybe there is some sort of an "inverse proportion" to this; the more materialistic a country or household is, the less faith there is. I don't know. I'm probably just talking nonsense. Here in Norway I notice that the number of members in the state church (which btw, is not Catholic, but rather Lutheran) is decreasing. Well, not that I'm complaining, though, 'cause there's lately been an increase in converts to the Catholic faith.
But anyways, that wasn't my point. :-P Generally there are less Christians in western countries than in eastern and so-called "third-world countries". Is it perhaps because we tend to see less of God's presence in everything we do because we focus so much on ourselves and our own moral judgment? Maybe, maybe not. We have more freedom to do as we please. We can choose which school to attend; we can choose which facts we are to know of; we can choose our own faith. Maybe this is why people turn away from Christianity.
Another possibility is perhaps that the common man doesn't want to be bothered to challenge him-/herself by confessing his/her belief in one faith or another. Maybe it's because religion in general is so far-fetched and so abstract to the human mind that one cannot be bothered to believe in anything because it's not concrete, or because it is too abstract to comprehend. Just consider the existence of God Himself. No one can prove he exists. No one can prove that Christ existed either, or that God is one, yet three at the same time. Maybe it is this notion that makes people dread religion. It's too difficult to fathom.
For me, I couldn't imagine living without believing in God. It (my belief, that is) gives me so much more meaning to life. I couldn't imagine going on day by day without knowing that life is meaningless; that there is no point in life after all. "The world was just created, because... well, it just was." I could never live with this opinion. I could never live with the opinion that the Big Bang was just created without any influence from some other life-giving force. All things have an origin, you know. Personally, I know what that origin is - or should I say, who that origin is. As for getting proof of His existence, I've had my share of that.
Maybe people just can't seem to sense an almighty presence in their lives. As I wrote earlier, I guess some people just expect a concrete sign from Heaven, like the sun dancing in the sky (as it did in Fátima, Portugal), or even Christ Himself descending from the sky on a cloud. The thing is, God is more cunning than that! I believe He expects us to be able to figure things out for ourselves when He appears to us. It could be through different things. A flower unwrapping its petals in spring; a new-born baby; a patient who gets to know that his tumor is benign; even a good grade at school. I think that if we notice the little positive things in life such as these, we'll notice more the presence of God in our lives and thus become better at believing. It's all in the small golden moments. And of course prayer... :-)
Forever contemplating,
Elise
(Inspired by a blog I recently stumbled across...)
I guess there are many answers to these questions. Maybe faith has something to do with dependency on objects. Materialism. Maybe there is some sort of an "inverse proportion" to this; the more materialistic a country or household is, the less faith there is. I don't know. I'm probably just talking nonsense. Here in Norway I notice that the number of members in the state church (which btw, is not Catholic, but rather Lutheran) is decreasing. Well, not that I'm complaining, though, 'cause there's lately been an increase in converts to the Catholic faith.
But anyways, that wasn't my point. :-P Generally there are less Christians in western countries than in eastern and so-called "third-world countries". Is it perhaps because we tend to see less of God's presence in everything we do because we focus so much on ourselves and our own moral judgment? Maybe, maybe not. We have more freedom to do as we please. We can choose which school to attend; we can choose which facts we are to know of; we can choose our own faith. Maybe this is why people turn away from Christianity.
Another possibility is perhaps that the common man doesn't want to be bothered to challenge him-/herself by confessing his/her belief in one faith or another. Maybe it's because religion in general is so far-fetched and so abstract to the human mind that one cannot be bothered to believe in anything because it's not concrete, or because it is too abstract to comprehend. Just consider the existence of God Himself. No one can prove he exists. No one can prove that Christ existed either, or that God is one, yet three at the same time. Maybe it is this notion that makes people dread religion. It's too difficult to fathom.
For me, I couldn't imagine living without believing in God. It (my belief, that is) gives me so much more meaning to life. I couldn't imagine going on day by day without knowing that life is meaningless; that there is no point in life after all. "The world was just created, because... well, it just was." I could never live with this opinion. I could never live with the opinion that the Big Bang was just created without any influence from some other life-giving force. All things have an origin, you know. Personally, I know what that origin is - or should I say, who that origin is. As for getting proof of His existence, I've had my share of that.
Maybe people just can't seem to sense an almighty presence in their lives. As I wrote earlier, I guess some people just expect a concrete sign from Heaven, like the sun dancing in the sky (as it did in Fátima, Portugal), or even Christ Himself descending from the sky on a cloud. The thing is, God is more cunning than that! I believe He expects us to be able to figure things out for ourselves when He appears to us. It could be through different things. A flower unwrapping its petals in spring; a new-born baby; a patient who gets to know that his tumor is benign; even a good grade at school. I think that if we notice the little positive things in life such as these, we'll notice more the presence of God in our lives and thus become better at believing. It's all in the small golden moments. And of course prayer... :-)
Forever contemplating,
Elise
(Inspired by a blog I recently stumbled across...)
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Ode to Sgt. Pepper
One of my favorite albums. Experimental and fun! Very late 60's, semi-hippie style. Really catchy. Sitting here listening to it, now having gotten to the last song of the album, "One Day in the Life". Quite interesting lyrics, really. I mean, throughout the whole of the record. One would perhaps think that the whole album is just one big trip. I'm probably provoking lots of Beatles fans out there, but especially one song, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", could really have been based on such a trip. Though they always said it wasn't alluding to LSD or any other type of drug, I kinda think they were inspired by it. Take that as you will. NOT stating they were taking drugs on a regular basis at all (though every hardcore Beatles fan know they smoked pot in the Queen's bathroom...).
Another noticeable tendency about this album is that it explores many of the contemporary styles at that time; everything from contemporary pop ("Getting Better", "Lovely Rita"), songs reminding me of children's TV shows ("When I'm Sixty-Four") and early tendencies of modern rock (title tracks) to - as mentioned - surreal "visions" of a topsy-turvy world with a 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds") and a more religiously-inspired track ("Within You, Without You").
For me this is a pretty revolutionary album, as before that time no other band (as I know of) seemed to think of - or perhaps dare to - explore sounds, concepts and lyrics. (Correct me if I'm wrong...) As I see it, before that album came around all songs told a story about devout love, lost love, parental love, physical love, getting over love... Get my drift? It was all so saturated with the same thing over and over again. Love. One can understand it, though, since love was something everyone could relate to. However, there is more to life than just love. Enter Sgt. Pepper. What's so fascinating is that every song tells a unique story. Of course, there are love songs in the album, but as opposed other contemporary songs, there is deeper poetry in each of the tracks. Sometimes so deep that it really can be heart-wrenching (Cf. e.g. "She's Leaving Home"), while other times it can be almost biblical ("Within You, Without You"). Anyway, however you look at it, it's an amazing album and one of the most revolutionary ones ever made. So there.
Peace out!
Lonely Heart (surrounded by other lonely hearts, so thus perhaps not as lonely as presumed!)
Another noticeable tendency about this album is that it explores many of the contemporary styles at that time; everything from contemporary pop ("Getting Better", "Lovely Rita"), songs reminding me of children's TV shows ("When I'm Sixty-Four") and early tendencies of modern rock (title tracks) to - as mentioned - surreal "visions" of a topsy-turvy world with a 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds") and a more religiously-inspired track ("Within You, Without You").
For me this is a pretty revolutionary album, as before that time no other band (as I know of) seemed to think of - or perhaps dare to - explore sounds, concepts and lyrics. (Correct me if I'm wrong...) As I see it, before that album came around all songs told a story about devout love, lost love, parental love, physical love, getting over love... Get my drift? It was all so saturated with the same thing over and over again. Love. One can understand it, though, since love was something everyone could relate to. However, there is more to life than just love. Enter Sgt. Pepper. What's so fascinating is that every song tells a unique story. Of course, there are love songs in the album, but as opposed other contemporary songs, there is deeper poetry in each of the tracks. Sometimes so deep that it really can be heart-wrenching (Cf. e.g. "She's Leaving Home"), while other times it can be almost biblical ("Within You, Without You"). Anyway, however you look at it, it's an amazing album and one of the most revolutionary ones ever made. So there.
Peace out!
Lonely Heart (surrounded by other lonely hearts, so thus perhaps not as lonely as presumed!)
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Here's to boredom!
Yes, I have officially been devoured by the immensely terrible creature otherwise called Boredom.
Whilst exploring the deepest recesses of this hideous being (otherwise known as "hitting rock bottom" of Boredom) I came across a few undiscovered Norwegian words that I found rather peculiar indeed. My Norwegian friends will probably rejoice in my sudden (yet also perhaps inevitable) outburst of these findings, yet they cannot be hidden from any soul at all.
Oh. My. Gosh.
Am I crazy, or what?! This just proves I really am bored!!! Well, actually I am quite fond of absurdities in most forms, and a while ago I came across a Norwegian article on words that nobody's ever thought of before. In short, it was very much inspired by Pippi Longstocking... Anyway, I figured I'd have a stab at it myself, so here are the final results of my efforts (to English-speaking readers, you may skip this following part if you wish):
Overtrekksbasill: En basill som holder til i alle slags typer overtrekk, enten det gjelder sengetøy, godteri, iskrem, bilseter eller møbler. Om slike kan ha konsekvenser for helsen er også heller tvilsomt.
Superklyse: "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's SUPERKLYSE!" Superman, eat your heart out.
Polyesterbaluba: Dagny har salg! (Uff, den var stygg! Beklager så mye!) Enten det eller en typisk bemerkning for salg hos klesbutikker fra 80-tallet.
Sigarettlompe: Spis ei pølse samtidig som du røyker! En sånn en "2 in 1 deal". Eller rett og slett "noko attåt" nikotinen.
Bensinhumbug: For høye bensinpriser. Ebenezer Scrooge, anyone?
Klistermaur: Organisk lim.
Luftsau: Det fins jo luftslott, så hvorfor ikke?
Mursteinschizofren: Tør ikke engang tenke på hva det kan være!
Vorteklokke: Finn ut når din neste vorte kommer til å oppstå! Timing is of the essence...
Billeklype: En lite human måte å drepe uønskede insekter på, etter min mening. (Tenk klesklyper...)
Vannpyroman: Med andre ord, en veldig skuffet pyroman.
Crazy? Yes, most definitely.
Stupid? Oh yes.
Am I a lunatic? Nope.
I guess one should take this as a more light-headed deviation from all the heavier stuff I've written earlier. Personally I think we all need to go a little mad sometimes. It's just healthy! In my opinion it helps us cope with reality a whole lot better!
Anyways, let me give a little shout-out to Eilen, whose final exams in Spanish are closing in on her - slowly but surely (or perhaps a little too fast?). You're going to do great! I'm praying for you!
Abrazos a mi familia querida del ciberespacio!
Elise
Whilst exploring the deepest recesses of this hideous being (otherwise known as "hitting rock bottom" of Boredom) I came across a few undiscovered Norwegian words that I found rather peculiar indeed. My Norwegian friends will probably rejoice in my sudden (yet also perhaps inevitable) outburst of these findings, yet they cannot be hidden from any soul at all.
Oh. My. Gosh.
Am I crazy, or what?! This just proves I really am bored!!! Well, actually I am quite fond of absurdities in most forms, and a while ago I came across a Norwegian article on words that nobody's ever thought of before. In short, it was very much inspired by Pippi Longstocking... Anyway, I figured I'd have a stab at it myself, so here are the final results of my efforts (to English-speaking readers, you may skip this following part if you wish):
Overtrekksbasill: En basill som holder til i alle slags typer overtrekk, enten det gjelder sengetøy, godteri, iskrem, bilseter eller møbler. Om slike kan ha konsekvenser for helsen er også heller tvilsomt.
Superklyse: "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's SUPERKLYSE!" Superman, eat your heart out.
Polyesterbaluba: Dagny har salg! (Uff, den var stygg! Beklager så mye!) Enten det eller en typisk bemerkning for salg hos klesbutikker fra 80-tallet.
Sigarettlompe: Spis ei pølse samtidig som du røyker! En sånn en "2 in 1 deal". Eller rett og slett "noko attåt" nikotinen.
Bensinhumbug: For høye bensinpriser. Ebenezer Scrooge, anyone?
Klistermaur: Organisk lim.
Luftsau: Det fins jo luftslott, så hvorfor ikke?
Mursteinschizofren: Tør ikke engang tenke på hva det kan være!
Vorteklokke: Finn ut når din neste vorte kommer til å oppstå! Timing is of the essence...
Billeklype: En lite human måte å drepe uønskede insekter på, etter min mening. (Tenk klesklyper...)
Vannpyroman: Med andre ord, en veldig skuffet pyroman.
Crazy? Yes, most definitely.
Stupid? Oh yes.
Am I a lunatic? Nope.
I guess one should take this as a more light-headed deviation from all the heavier stuff I've written earlier. Personally I think we all need to go a little mad sometimes. It's just healthy! In my opinion it helps us cope with reality a whole lot better!
Anyways, let me give a little shout-out to Eilen, whose final exams in Spanish are closing in on her - slowly but surely (or perhaps a little too fast?). You're going to do great! I'm praying for you!
Abrazos a mi familia querida del ciberespacio!
Elise
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