Ahem.

Just this tiny thing before I start reviewing again. Have had this song in my mind all yesterday evening. Or to be more specific, the riff. Gotta love good guitar riffs. Mmm... guitar riffs... Ok, enough now. Just have a look.



Now I'm done. :-P

Primal scream and things that make you go "mmm..."

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

Just had to let that one out. Man, that felt good.

Mmm... Big words... That's my thing. Big words that don't necessarily mean that much when you think about it. Just think about "retarded" and the more indirect term "mentally challenged". Or perhaps "lost" and "locationally misplaced"... Yesterday, when we had our final Grammar lecture (nooo!) , our lecturer mentioned the word "redundant"... Mmm... Redundant... As Eilen would say oh-so-eloquently: "Talk nerdy to me!" Yes, indeed. :-P

Off topic and ever-so-slightly random, but here's Homer Simpson commenting on things that make you go "mmm...":



"Mmm... forbidden donut..." :-P

Not too keen on that "invisible Cola"-bit. And they should have showed Homer when he actually said that stuff as well. But it's still pretty fun, though.

Anywho. Enough procrastinating. I'm gonna go and be a good student now.

Funky-dory,
Elise

Ps.: What is Soylent Green, anyways???

I'll be hooome for Christmas...

There. Done. All that's needed now is snow.

Finally got around to order tickets home, despite me not being able to get my last exam date yet. So now it's decided. I'm going home on Dec. 17. Definitely. Unless something highly unexpected happens. Which I doubt. Anyway, that's all for today. At least for now. Will now fret over other less trivial things. Like exams. *Theme from "Jaws" in head* For those of you who are studying like heck (I hope...): best wishes and positive motivational vibes from Oslo!

God bless,
Elise

And there she goes.

Blog hiatus.

Wow. Talk about blog abstinence. Haven't written anything since last Saturday. Dude. Duuuude.

Almost scary, that.

Anywho, I have come to the conclusion that I have to focus a bit more on my inevitable and dare I say dreaded exams, so my apologies for not posting much these next couple of weeks. :-( As these are my very first exams here at uni, I just want to make sure that everything is right. But there's always Msn.

So, any news? Nah, not really. Just the same trivialities as usual. Besides exams, I find (again) that I miss my beloved darling piano. My precioussssss... No other musical instrument can ever replace it, I tell you! (Except for real pianos, but that's another story.) Guitars, tin whistles, recorders, drums, maracas, you name it - they can't substitute pianos. They're all nice, but they can't substitute the real thing.

Meanwhile, I'm in the process of ordering tickets home. I.e. I haven't gotten around to actually ordering, but I'm planning on heading home at around... err... date... *flicking through calendar*... Dec. 17. In case y'all are interested. Unless the date of my final exam is earlier that week, so I could go home earlier. *keeping fingers crossed* Hopefully we'll get to know the date tomorrow. Hopefully.

Ugh, gray and dreary outside. It's been raining here all week, apart from the sun peeking through the clouds earlier today for about half-an-hour. Very uninspiring weather. Can be nice when in the wilderness, but in the city it's just depressing. Don't feel like studying at all. But I have to.

Sometimes I wish I were a bird, so I wouldn't have to have to take exams. Sounds silly, I know, but we humans have really made life complex compared to the (other) animals. We have to go through school to get a job in order to get food on the table, while other animals just take whatever food they can get. Of course it may be more difficult for birds to get hold of food, but they still don't need to take exams!

I'm not making much sense, am I? I'll stop this yapping now and get on with studying. *sigh*

Stay tuned for more absurd randomness. Eventually.

Elise

Breaktime! :-D

Guess who (kind of) loudly exclaimed at the school cafeteria yesterday the oh-so-tactful remark: "We're all freaks!" so that the rest of the diners could hear her loud and clear... This was by the way the same person who at that moment sank down in her chair and felt small and kind of embarrassed. *cringe* "Bridget Jones" moment of the week right there. Perfect way to end a week! I needed to laugh a bit, though. Helps to de-stress.

Listening to sugar-coated, shallow, cliché-filled synthetic 80's pop á la Rick Astley. Just in that bubbly mood despite vigorous reviewing. Well, not that vigorous, actually. But those two sort of go hand in hand with me. Shallowness and reviewing.

Don (a.k.a. Gerd Torunn, sister of best friend) came for a visit today with her beau, which was fun. Hadn't seen her for a while. Aaand thanks to her boyfriend (who seemed to be utterly fascinated with my TippEx/correction fluid/white-out/"tabbelakk"... o.O), he's now made me associate oregano with organs, i.e. intestines and the likes. Another absurd association along the lines of Jonas Gahr Støre/diced bacon. Eating pizza will definitely be a new experience next time around. Oh yes.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that with y'all. It's amazing what exam prep can do to you...

Yes, I'm gonna shut up now and do something sensible. :-P

Soon homeward bound (still dunno when... frustrating! Argh!),
Elise

Cats. Again.

I'm sorry, I have to do this.



*grins*

Elise

Blablablablablargh!

This is me right now:

Except for the sleeping over a bowl of food.

Been a good student and studied and reviewed before Grammar seminar, and am completely knackered. Yet again, my head is filled with helium, which resulted in absentmindedness and cheesy remarks blurted out by yours truly. Again. Looooovely. Eeeeeexcellent.

Eilen's done with home exam already. There's still a loooong way to go before I get there. But I will get there. Sooner or later. Promise.

But for now I need to get through this schtuff first. That word was not Yiddish.

You know what? I'm gonna leave it at this. I'm so tired I can barely type this nonsense. Besides, grammatical terms keep whirling around inside my head anyways. Finite clauses... Subject... Verb... Direct object... "That"-clauses... Nominal - argh, never mind. It doesn't matter. Complicated stuff, that is.

Looking forward to dragging myself home to the smell of freshly-baked gingerbread men.

Home. Hooooooome. Christmas... Vacation!!! *sigh* Enough already.

Feeling groovy (Simon & Garfunkel song stuck in my head),

Elise

Self-discipline.

Haven't done anything from when I got home from uni today and up to now. Had planned on typing up the infamous Phonetics Assignment just to get it out of the way, make a study schedule for the weeks ahead up to and including the days of my exams AND catch up on some notes and reading. But NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I absolutely HAD to check out blogs. I definitely HAD to write and answer comments. I HAD to type up a new post.

Mom's visit was awesome! And that wasn't (only) because of the extra wallet I had in the vicinity... :-P I hadn't seen her for what seems to be ages! What's strange is that I never really realized how much I missed her before I actually saw her. *Aww* And then I realized that Father's Day was yesterday, and then I missed my Dad as well! *Aww (#2)* Sent him an e-card, but that's not really the same as being at home myself, buying flowers to put in the living room and giving him a real card and a great big hug... Ugh, getting all mooshy now... Again... :-S

But I'm going home in a few weeks' time now, so there aren't any worries there. The only thing I still keep on worrying about are my exams. The repugnantly inevitable exams. (Oooh. Big words. :-P) The thought of it just seems to come back time and time again, dunnit...?

Ergo, I should do something about it. Preferably start doing the things I'm supposed to do right now. Preferably.

Don't really want to, but should. Argh. Conscience.

But just to end this off, I wrote something on the message board of Pemberley.com, which I actually got a reply on! :-D If you're interested in what this is, log onto www.pemberley.com and click on the message board link called "Lady Catherine & co.". Then look for an entry called "My dear Lady Catherine!" written by "Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "Bouquet")". That's my entry. *giggle* Think Hyacinth and Lady Catherine would get along quite well if they got the chance to meet! ;-)

Chutzpah (see entry on Yiddish terms further down on page),
Elise

In the eye of the storm of phonetics...

... I found myself wondering why there aren't many pictures of Christ smiling, or Him interacting in a human way with people around Him. I mean, He must have smiled, right? He must have laughed as well. He was/is, after all, a human as well as God. Pictures I've seen depicting Him only show Him with a serious expression; sometimes even with a faint smile. If we're lucky. Could it be to create a certain divine distance between us mere mortals and Himself? To make Him look almighty compared the rest of us? Could be. But He was still a human, though.


Don't get me wrong, I'm still fond of the "standard" portrayal of Christ, but I found these rather heart-warming:







Now if that doesn't show not love for mankind, I don't know what is.

*sigh* Ok.

Assignment breathing down my neck (again),
Elise

Vooooooooooolare... :-P

Head feels like it's filled with lead. James Morrison! Stat!

There we go. Much better. :-P

Home again from Grammar seminar straight after 2 consecutive hours talking/discussing/ranting (no, not really...) with a few friends about Grammar assignment due today. Yaaar... Happy I finished it last weekend, as there was a bit of tension with some of the other gals at the final moments before class. I can understand them, though. It was pretty hard. I really struggled with that one. Took me the whole weekend to get it done. But now that everybody's done with it (at least most of them) and it's been handed in, we all let out a huge collective sigh of relief. Oh yeah. We did it. Now only one to go. Guess I've got the whole of tomorrow planned out. *sigh*

Then there's Mom's visit... then exam prep (i.e. learning all of the stuff by heart and understanding the whole shebang)... then... exams... Nope, still worried. And the worst ones are, of course, first: ExFac and Grammar. In that order. Those are the heaviest subjects on my course.

There are some things that even James Morrison's songs can't help with. And this is one of them. *sigh* (#2)

Sorry about this, but I just had to let out some frustration somehow. But it's going to improve during the evening. This is just a temporary glitch; it'll pass. It always does. In fact, after only 10 minutes after writing I'm actually starting to feel better. I'm good. I'm fine. No worries. Well, some, but not many. :-)

Aplomb, thy name is definitely not Elise. Gotta love the word, though. Aplomb... Mmm... Dental fillings... Indeed.

Speaking of strange/interesting words, I've developed a passion for Yiddish words, or words that originate from Yiddish. Take for instance: Glitch (a defect/malfunction/problem), chutzpah (insolence/nerve/audacity) and schmuck (a jerk). Hehe. Fun. And what's even more intriguing is that many of these words are related with Hebrew (obv.), German, Polish and Arabic words! Just like shmutz (dirt) gelt (money) and genuk (enough). This is so fascinating! :-D

(Mind you, that was the language nerd in me that was writing there.)

And off to new challenges (i.e. TV? Dinner? Both? Yeah, why not?)!



A gezunt af dein kop! ("Health on your head!"; Yiddish blessing)
Elise

Not exactly a manic Monday...

Listening to James Morrison (has been that way these past 10 days or so). Teacup on left side of computer, and I've just missed the news on TV2. Timing is of the essence, innit?

Finally got webcam working yesterday (thanks, Ole! Great to see you on the other end!). It wasn't my computer!!! For once it's not my fault! :-P Got me really annoyed there.

Got a feeling this week is going to be slightly better than last week, since it seemed to be practically saturated with blond moments. No offense to my blond friends... :-S At least you guys have an excuse. And to top the whole week off I actually told one of my blond friends during Phonetics (last class on Friday) that that week was "a blond week", as I so articulately expressed it. *cringe* After I'd realized what I'd said - and to whom I'd said it - I literally felt like digging a hole. Luckily she didn't take it the wrong way... Am cursed with such behavior, as it seems as if I blurt out whatever is in my head at the moment. Doesn't happen always, but still... Note to self: Think before you speak. Yaaaar... :-P

Hm. Read something interesting in my ex.fac. book today, which I found kind of contradictory to my idea of male-male conversations, female-female conversations and male-female conversations. Can't be bothered to translate this into English, so for all you English-speaking readers (I know you're out there even though you don't POST ANY COMMENTS! *subtle hint*)... tough luck. And I quote:

Det har for eksempel vist seg at i samtaler mellom kvinner og menn dominerer mennene samtalene på ulike måter: De snakker mer enn kvinnene gjør, de avbryter samtalepartnerens turer oftere enn det kvinnene gjør, og de styrer emnevalget i samtalen i sterkere grad enn kvinnene gjør. (...)

I dunno what to think about this. Do men really talk more than women? 'Cause I thought it was the opposite... :-S Then again, it does depend on the topic discussed, doesn't it? What do you think? I'm all ears (or should it be eyes?) to any agreements/disagreements to this statement!

Lukewarm tea. Only less than a month 'till final exams. Getting slightly worried, as I haven't really started studying for them yet. Mostly due to final semester papers that are to be turned in within these next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, my Mom's coming over to visit me this weekend! *happy dance* It's been ages since I've seen her! Last time I came home, she was on a trip to the Philippines, so I only got the chance to talk to her on the phone (hardly even that, as the connection was rather bad at the time). Lately it's only been phone calls and text messages, so I'm really looking forward to actually seeing her again! I'm also looking forward to use her wallet for a change, but that's another story... ;-) I won't go into further details on that!

And off I go...

Huggies, q-tips and handkerchiefs,
Elise

Ps.: Viking outsmarted Brann. *smirk*

*sigh* (#2)

Do I have to elaborate on this pic? ;-)

Don't really have that much to say, and besides I'm tired so I won't subject this blog for any mindless chatter. Not that it's not filled to the rim with that already, mind you! Still, I'm-a leave it at this. So there. Hah.

Positive (and dare I say tired?) vibes to all!

Elise

¡Hola todos!

Wow, two days since last post. That's very unusual indeed. :-P Been busy these past days. Well, not busy "busy", but you know... busy. (o.O) *bad at explaining*

I must say, this week has been a really strange week. I've been subjected to an academic dry-spell; i.e. I couldn't be bothered reading/taking notes at all, and rather do something else. Even doing the dishes and cleaning my room sounded more alluring. Just one of those weeks, I guess.

Went shopping (again) with Sara yesterday. Feel more prepared in facing wintertime now. Much more so. Especially with jellybeans. Mmm... Jellybeans... (Reminds me of Homer Simpson who once said: "Mmm... Something..." *lol*)

Ok. Enough of that. Here's a pic from one of the stained-glass windows of the Cathedral of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Of course there's so much more to see in the church than that, but this was particularly gorgeous:

The church in itself won't be completed until about 20 years from now, since it's funding is only from public donations, but the things that can are completed so far are truly beautiful.

And just to add a pic of the exterior as well (from February this year)...:

It may look somewhat strange at first, but there is heaps of naturalistic details (given there's something called naturalism in the first place) both inside and outside the cathedral itself. Gaudí truly was a genious.

Next challenge: Grab a cuppatea (alternatively "cuppa tea")!

¡Abrazos/pañales a todos! :-P

A la próxima vez,
Elise

Mooshy stuff.

Cold. Cozy. Spiffing, even.

Really nice weather here today. Cloudless sky with autumn sun (can you write that?), no wind at all and drizzle of snowflakes on the ground. Aaah. Beautiful! Gorgeous! Perfect!!! And tomorrow's gonna be the same! Woohoo! *happy dance lasting 5 mins*

Back from good grammar class. Felt as if I was walking like an old lady to uni today, because they hadn't gravelled (can you write that? (#2)) the road except by the main entrance to my flat and the uni premises. But it was nice to pack myself in a thick sweater, scarf, cap and mittens, though.

Oooh, phonecall from parents! Got the latest gossip from hometown... Man, when I think about my former classmates and their present circumstances... I dunno, it's so weird how fast time goes. It's almost scary. Suddenly they're there living with boyfriends and getting married. 5 years ago we were all together and anxious to graduate from Junior High... Now we're spread out all across Norway; some with families already (or at least in the process of starting one). It's so surreal... We've come so far... I honestly thought it'd take a while longer. But that doesn't mean that I'm not happy for them! :-)

It's just the same thing with my former classmates from Senior High (videregående). Although I've seen a couple of these people again at uni, we're all spread out doing our own thing. Well, spread out to a greater extent, as most of the people I know have started studies around Europe and in the US and Canada. I believe some of these people are living together and/or have gotten married as well... This is even more scary as it has only been what, one-and-a-half years since we graduated? Freaky. I wonder how they rest of them are doing...

Ach, this is getting mooshy. I'll go now before this gets worse! :-P Besides, I'm getting hungry. Ergo, I should eat.

Still in need of buying James Morrison's CD and checking out more Bob Dylan stuff,
Elise