From one of my all-time favorite Shakespearian plays, Hamlet.
Kenneth Branagh in one of his best roles ever! The best Hamlet I've seen so far!
Signing off (frolicking Shakespeare style),
Elise
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
(Add catchy title here)
Busy, busy, busy. Virtually no time for blogging at all, or doing anything to willingly waste my energy on something not uni-related. It's still kind of like this at the moment, although the intensity of it all has decreased a little at the moment. Most likely due to the fact that I've handed in 2/3 of my essay outlines for the professors to read through and scrutinize as much as they wish. Well, technically I've already handed in all 3, but -- as the neurotic perfectionist that I am -- I figured I'd hand in one of them a second time. To make sure the professor knows perfectly what I intend to write about. I've also started gathering research for one of my papers, but there's one I simply can't find at all at the library. It's supposed to be there, but -- it doesn't seem to be there at all. Uh...? Note to self: Must seek out help tomorrow.
I also figured I'd take a day off to escape my books and essay-writing things for a while and see my cuz and my aunt (from out of town) who are here for a short visit. A short stop at a shop for my cousin to pick up some stuff for an upcoming wedding followed by a hearty sushi dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant and a stroll on Karl Johan was just nothing short of awesome. The Christmas market beside the City Hall downtown is also the perfect place to get into that festive mood. We all just took in the atmosphere of the place: the sights, the sounds, the smell of glühwein and gingerbread cookies... Aaah. Just perfect. The lights there were gorgeous as well. I thought I'd take the opportunity to take some photos of some of the sights to try to capture the mood there -- with various degrees of success. But it was very beautiful indeed. Sitting here, after having nibbled slightly on my German lebkuchen (German near-equivalent of gingerbread), I'm starting to be filled with the Christmas spirit that I so longed for. Seeing my cousin and my aunt again no doubt contributed to that as well. It's been too long since I've seen them.
My cousin and my aunt are two of those people who possess this element of self-irony, they don't take themselves seriously at all. They also have this kind of relationship where they bicker with each other in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. I admire that in them, odd as it may sound. I need more of this stuff in my life. And the raw laugh that always accompanies goofing around or any ironic/sarcastic comments hitting below the belt is nothing short of priceless. Besides, I felt I needed that laugh attack fix right now, too. It was great to see them again. I sincerely hope we'll be able to meet up again soon.
I'm kind of in a thoughtful mood right now, though nothing of interest really comes to mind. I just think back on the gorgeous Christmas lights at the back of the City Hall and the blissful and calm atmosphere of the place. This is just one of those moments where you look back on the day that's just passed and you smile to yourself, thinking "this day was nothing short of awesome". You sort of try to conserve that feeling of serenity and contentedness as much as possible throughout the last remnants of the day before you hit the sack and another day begins with its own set of expectations and challenges. I hope some of this feeling I have inside will be carried on through tomorrow and the rest of the days of this year. At least.
Right. Off to bed now. Even though Sir Noise-A-Lot strikes again. And it's not really the Arabic crossover kind I hear like the last time I wrote about it. It's got more of a beat to it this time. Yarr.
Must. Not. Taint. Christmasy. Feeling.
Ooh, and while I remember it: The strangest thing happened last night in the corridor outside my room. I'd gone off to bed after a fruitful day of studying and strangely enough I couldn't sleep. I was still awake at around 1:30am when I suddenly hear this noise resembling someone trying to lock himself/herself into my room, but not quite. Thank God it was locked. It sure as hell made my heart race a while afterwards, but when I looked through the peephole in my door some seconds after I'd heard the sound, I couldn't see anyone. So I checked the door again to make sure it was locked and went to bed again. The next day, as I was getting myself ready to leave for uni and later on to go downtown to meet said aunt and cousin, I suddenly noticed the tag with the number of my room had been removed from my door. Hence accounting for the strange sound I heard at half 1 in the morning. Humph. I found, however, that my tag had been stuck to another door across the corridor instead. The same thing had happened to the door of one of my other neighbors. Uh... And the point of this was...? Guess this just goes to show that everything gets funny and/or "just makes sense" at 1:30 in the morning.
Signing off (*zzz*),
Elise
I also figured I'd take a day off to escape my books and essay-writing things for a while and see my cuz and my aunt (from out of town) who are here for a short visit. A short stop at a shop for my cousin to pick up some stuff for an upcoming wedding followed by a hearty sushi dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant and a stroll on Karl Johan was just nothing short of awesome. The Christmas market beside the City Hall downtown is also the perfect place to get into that festive mood. We all just took in the atmosphere of the place: the sights, the sounds, the smell of glühwein and gingerbread cookies... Aaah. Just perfect. The lights there were gorgeous as well. I thought I'd take the opportunity to take some photos of some of the sights to try to capture the mood there -- with various degrees of success. But it was very beautiful indeed. Sitting here, after having nibbled slightly on my German lebkuchen (German near-equivalent of gingerbread), I'm starting to be filled with the Christmas spirit that I so longed for. Seeing my cousin and my aunt again no doubt contributed to that as well. It's been too long since I've seen them.
My cousin and my aunt are two of those people who possess this element of self-irony, they don't take themselves seriously at all. They also have this kind of relationship where they bicker with each other in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. I admire that in them, odd as it may sound. I need more of this stuff in my life. And the raw laugh that always accompanies goofing around or any ironic/sarcastic comments hitting below the belt is nothing short of priceless. Besides, I felt I needed that laugh attack fix right now, too. It was great to see them again. I sincerely hope we'll be able to meet up again soon.
I'm kind of in a thoughtful mood right now, though nothing of interest really comes to mind. I just think back on the gorgeous Christmas lights at the back of the City Hall and the blissful and calm atmosphere of the place. This is just one of those moments where you look back on the day that's just passed and you smile to yourself, thinking "this day was nothing short of awesome". You sort of try to conserve that feeling of serenity and contentedness as much as possible throughout the last remnants of the day before you hit the sack and another day begins with its own set of expectations and challenges. I hope some of this feeling I have inside will be carried on through tomorrow and the rest of the days of this year. At least.
Right. Off to bed now. Even though Sir Noise-A-Lot strikes again. And it's not really the Arabic crossover kind I hear like the last time I wrote about it. It's got more of a beat to it this time. Yarr.
Must. Not. Taint. Christmasy. Feeling.
Ooh, and while I remember it: The strangest thing happened last night in the corridor outside my room. I'd gone off to bed after a fruitful day of studying and strangely enough I couldn't sleep. I was still awake at around 1:30am when I suddenly hear this noise resembling someone trying to lock himself/herself into my room, but not quite. Thank God it was locked. It sure as hell made my heart race a while afterwards, but when I looked through the peephole in my door some seconds after I'd heard the sound, I couldn't see anyone. So I checked the door again to make sure it was locked and went to bed again. The next day, as I was getting myself ready to leave for uni and later on to go downtown to meet said aunt and cousin, I suddenly noticed the tag with the number of my room had been removed from my door. Hence accounting for the strange sound I heard at half 1 in the morning. Humph. I found, however, that my tag had been stuck to another door across the corridor instead. The same thing had happened to the door of one of my other neighbors. Uh... And the point of this was...? Guess this just goes to show that everything gets funny and/or "just makes sense" at 1:30 in the morning.
Signing off (*zzz*),
Elise
Sunday, November 22, 2009
*groan*
Ok. Saturday is officially over. And I can't sleep. There's someone in my building who has a somewhat inconsiderate affinity to playing Arabic music loudly after midnight. This usually happens around once a week, so it is tolerable, I suppose (subtle P&P innuendo there). BUT STILL.
I need to get up early(ish) tomorrow to take a shower and head off to church, but there are so many things in my head at the moment that I have to let some of 'em out.
Looking through that previous YT vid again (adorable kid!), I found out something more I'd like to have in a future bf/partner-for-life (note that I didn't write "partner-in-crime" here -- I'm not a criminal (duh)). He has to have a great laugh. I remember I'd gotten for one of my English assignments in Senior High to describe someone in my family, so I chose to describe Dad. I remember describing his laugh like a "high-pitched machine gun laugh". I'd like to have something like that as one of the top features of a future bf/partner-for-life. He has to have a contagious and memorable kind of laugh.
In other news, while the rest of mah peeps are studying for their semester finals, I've ostracized myself from that level of stress, if you get my drift. I'm not going to have any exams before spring (!), so I'm not really feeling the kind of nerves others of my acquaintance are feeling. Nonetheless, this means that the culmination of my classes will be postponed -- which can also be a bad thing. In addition, we've been given the task of writing 3 essays in the course of the next few months, so there'll probably be a lot of IB tendencies lurking about this Christmas... :-S Vacation is going to be somewhat short for me this year, I believe/fear... The first draft of one of my essays is going to be handed in January 4, so I'd better put the pedal to the metal and get started with it. Ugh. I feel really torn between letting myself work a little this Christmas and concentrating as much as possible on these essay drafts, but I fear that I'll just have to let work take a back seat this Christmas. I must admit I do feel guilty for doing so, but considering the fact that I don't have that much time to write my drafts, I don't think there's much for me to do about it.
Ugh (#2). I feel I'm letting people down by doing this, but ultimately uni has a higher priority than work. Still... The guilt factor is sky high.
This sucks. SUCKS, I tell you. SUCKS.
Meanwhile, besides this semi-killjoy attitude of uni with respect to essay writing (bah, humbug), I'm slowly but surely getting into the Christmas mood. At the soccer stadium they've started decorating the adjacent shopping street (it's really not that long/extravagant) with lights and tiny plastic Christmas trees. Purdy. Real purdy. They've also started decorating on campus, albeit just a little. This week there was this huge crane at the southern end of campus, ready to set up Christmas lights in the trees. You should really see those trees when it's dark outside (or after dark). Nothing short of beautiful!
Bought myself a bag of Christmas marzipan today as well. Lord knows marzipan is one of the best things ever created. I didn't really like it when I was a kid, but it's sorta' grown on me over the years. Just like licorice, mustard, brown cheese and raw/unprocessed tomatoes. (I adored spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and ketchup when I was a kid, but ironically enough I couldn't stand raw tomatoes. In case you didn't know, I was weird back then. Heck, I'm still weird in many ways!)
So what's missing now to make the picture complete is SNOW. That and reading by a lit fireplace snuggled inside a blanket in your jammies and favorite slippers sipping gløgg (approx. the same as mulled wine) while huge cotton-like wads of snow quietly fall to the ground. With the sweet and spicy smell of gløgg gradually filling the air and the sporadic crackling from the fireplace in reach. Oh yeah. Bliss. ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...")
*snaps out of trance* Hokai. Enough for now. I'd better hit the sack and get my beauty sleep. Going to church with dark bags underneath your eyes isn't exactly ideal. Besides, Sir Play-It-Loud seems to have surrendered to the increasing levels of serotonin in his body. Finally. I should do the same.
'Till next time!
Signing off (zzz...),
Elise
I need to get up early(ish) tomorrow to take a shower and head off to church, but there are so many things in my head at the moment that I have to let some of 'em out.
Looking through that previous YT vid again (adorable kid!), I found out something more I'd like to have in a future bf/partner-for-life (note that I didn't write "partner-in-crime" here -- I'm not a criminal (duh)). He has to have a great laugh. I remember I'd gotten for one of my English assignments in Senior High to describe someone in my family, so I chose to describe Dad. I remember describing his laugh like a "high-pitched machine gun laugh". I'd like to have something like that as one of the top features of a future bf/partner-for-life. He has to have a contagious and memorable kind of laugh.
In other news, while the rest of mah peeps are studying for their semester finals, I've ostracized myself from that level of stress, if you get my drift. I'm not going to have any exams before spring (!), so I'm not really feeling the kind of nerves others of my acquaintance are feeling. Nonetheless, this means that the culmination of my classes will be postponed -- which can also be a bad thing. In addition, we've been given the task of writing 3 essays in the course of the next few months, so there'll probably be a lot of IB tendencies lurking about this Christmas... :-S Vacation is going to be somewhat short for me this year, I believe/fear... The first draft of one of my essays is going to be handed in January 4, so I'd better put the pedal to the metal and get started with it. Ugh. I feel really torn between letting myself work a little this Christmas and concentrating as much as possible on these essay drafts, but I fear that I'll just have to let work take a back seat this Christmas. I must admit I do feel guilty for doing so, but considering the fact that I don't have that much time to write my drafts, I don't think there's much for me to do about it.
Ugh (#2). I feel I'm letting people down by doing this, but ultimately uni has a higher priority than work. Still... The guilt factor is sky high.
This sucks. SUCKS, I tell you. SUCKS.
Meanwhile, besides this semi-killjoy attitude of uni with respect to essay writing (bah, humbug), I'm slowly but surely getting into the Christmas mood. At the soccer stadium they've started decorating the adjacent shopping street (it's really not that long/extravagant) with lights and tiny plastic Christmas trees. Purdy. Real purdy. They've also started decorating on campus, albeit just a little. This week there was this huge crane at the southern end of campus, ready to set up Christmas lights in the trees. You should really see those trees when it's dark outside (or after dark). Nothing short of beautiful!
Bought myself a bag of Christmas marzipan today as well. Lord knows marzipan is one of the best things ever created. I didn't really like it when I was a kid, but it's sorta' grown on me over the years. Just like licorice, mustard, brown cheese and raw/unprocessed tomatoes. (I adored spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and ketchup when I was a kid, but ironically enough I couldn't stand raw tomatoes. In case you didn't know, I was weird back then. Heck, I'm still weird in many ways!)
So what's missing now to make the picture complete is SNOW. That and reading by a lit fireplace snuggled inside a blanket in your jammies and favorite slippers sipping gløgg (approx. the same as mulled wine) while huge cotton-like wads of snow quietly fall to the ground. With the sweet and spicy smell of gløgg gradually filling the air and the sporadic crackling from the fireplace in reach. Oh yeah. Bliss. ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...")
*snaps out of trance* Hokai. Enough for now. I'd better hit the sack and get my beauty sleep. Going to church with dark bags underneath your eyes isn't exactly ideal. Besides, Sir Play-It-Loud seems to have surrendered to the increasing levels of serotonin in his body. Finally. I should do the same.
'Till next time!
Signing off (zzz...),
Elise
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Laugh attack!
His dad says it's the funniest thing ever, and I couldn't agree more!
In other news, I'm currently halfway thru teacher training and I'm still absorbing everything like a sponge. 2nd English A2 HL lesson taught today and it's gradually getting better. Still nervous as heck, but I'm getting there. A little more relaxed today than what I was on the first day, so this is promising.
As far as Spanish is concerned, I had my first lesson last Monday and I'm sorta' satisfied. Still a lot of work to be done, though.
I wonder how it will be when I get to teach my own class. I mean when I get done with all my studies and get out there in the big bad world to try to impart some knowledge to other people. I probably won't be strict (although I'm kinda toying with the idea of it...), but I certainly hope I'll be respected by my students/pupils. As opposed to this wise-ass case, for instance:
Star student. Without a doubt.
Ok. Off to bed.
Signing off (lethargically),
Elise
In other news, I'm currently halfway thru teacher training and I'm still absorbing everything like a sponge. 2nd English A2 HL lesson taught today and it's gradually getting better. Still nervous as heck, but I'm getting there. A little more relaxed today than what I was on the first day, so this is promising.
As far as Spanish is concerned, I had my first lesson last Monday and I'm sorta' satisfied. Still a lot of work to be done, though.
I wonder how it will be when I get to teach my own class. I mean when I get done with all my studies and get out there in the big bad world to try to impart some knowledge to other people. I probably won't be strict (although I'm kinda toying with the idea of it...), but I certainly hope I'll be respected by my students/pupils. As opposed to this wise-ass case, for instance:
Star student. Without a doubt.
Ok. Off to bed.
Signing off (lethargically),
Elise
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Groovy version of one of my all-time favorite songs!
"Billy Sheeeeeaaaars!!!"
Love this jazzy version of it! So much fun! And the lead singer's got a great voice as well! Hope y'all enjoy it too!
Signing off (drained),
Elise
Friday, October 09, 2009
If you don't feel like laughing out loud, look away... NOW.
I seriously have to watch this movie again!
Meanwhile, my first practice period starts next week. Hope I can do a good job at this. There's going to be some mistakes, but I hope I'll gain a lot of knowledge from this and grow as a teacher, though I'm still in my diapers when it comes to this.
Hm. Suddenly got a mental image of me wearing a diaper. And with a pacifier in my mouth and wearing one of those baby caps. Somewhat disturbing. And looking something like this, perhaps? (Ixnaying the blond hair, Swedish language and of course the gender):
Or maybe not. (Sorry for any of you who don't understand this, but it's a father-and-son skit at the Swedish sports gala this year, and they're basically bickering most of the time.)
Anyway, to all y'all readers: Have a great weekend!
Signing off,
Elise
Monday, October 05, 2009
"Whatever..."
Watch her hand gesture in the middle of this clip. Adorable!
Meanwhile, I'm meeting up with my Senior High (Upper Secondary) School tomorrow with the rest of my group (we're 8 people in total going to the same school). How do I feel about that? I'll tell you: It's a mix of terror, happiness, giddiness, worry, nervousness, exitement, anticipation, anxiousness and butterflies. I'll only be observing at this stage (at least officially speaking), but it's all up to the teachers if they want us to participate in the classes instead of just sitting there looking at what's going on. We'll see what happens...
Signing off (and hitting the books one last time for the day, still sensing the butterflies in her stomach already),
Elise
Meanwhile, I'm meeting up with my Senior High (Upper Secondary) School tomorrow with the rest of my group (we're 8 people in total going to the same school). How do I feel about that? I'll tell you: It's a mix of terror, happiness, giddiness, worry, nervousness, exitement, anticipation, anxiousness and butterflies. I'll only be observing at this stage (at least officially speaking), but it's all up to the teachers if they want us to participate in the classes instead of just sitting there looking at what's going on. We'll see what happens...
Signing off (and hitting the books one last time for the day, still sensing the butterflies in her stomach already),
Elise
Saturday, October 03, 2009
*chomp*
Ok, this is a recipe from Momiji that I decided to try out this weekend, which -- according to herself, and with whom I totally agree -- is a meal fit for fall! It tastes super-super good and is ridiculously easy to make, so I suggest you try it out! I just have to post the recipe here; I'm-a gone spread the word!
Momiji's Chicken with Apples
* 2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tsp canola oil
* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (in my take of it I used minced chicken meat instead of chicken breasts)
* 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 1/4 cup (about 1/2 dl) apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup (about 2 dl) apple cider
These are quantities for about 4 servings.
This is how you do it according to Momiji: "First sprinkle pepper over chicken. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet, add chicken and sauté until browned, don't brown it too much so it won't be too dry, it will take you about 5 minutes per side. (Alternatively fry minced chicken meat until golden. I sorta' sprinkled the pepper over it as I was frying, although it's probably not the best way to do it.) Take it from your skillet. Then put onion on that skillet and cook it until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Do not brown it or burn it, your onion has to be white, soft and sort of transparent (I fried it until it had a sort of diluted milky color). To that add apple slices and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the pieces constantly. Then return your chicken to pan, mix it all, oninos, apples and chicken, add cider vinegar and apple cider. Simmer until chicken is cooked completely and liquid has reduced - it will take about 5 minutes. And that's it. It is ready to be served."
To this beauty of a dish, I added 2 bundles of boiled somen noodles, tossed it all around and served it up. Having just a teeny kitchen with a teeny fridge (and living by myself) I am very fond of dishes where you can just use one pot or one skillet to mix everything up in. Furthermore, as Momiji herself said, you can serve this with virtually anything: Rice, pasta, noodles, (mashed) potatoes, or perhaps some couscous as well. Might try that next time! And maybe add some finely chopped carrots and/or Chinese cabbage as well. There's definitely room for variation with this dish, if that's what tickles your fancy!
It tasted gloriously! I think I might have reduced the liquid a little too much, though, as there was virtually no more liquid left when it was finished, but then again I have to say I wasn't following the recipe to each and every detail. I kinda like straying away a little from the recipe when it comes to making dinner. (Doing this when baking something is not so wise, however...) You don't need salt in this dish either! I mean, since you fry the chicken, the salt in it will be released anyway, so there's no need at all to add any to it. Besides, the tangy apple flavor from the vinegar, cider and apples is compensation enough! Absolutely scrumptious!
The presence of apples in a dish sorta' took me back to Spain, in a sense. The mother in my host family was very keen on adding apples and/or raisins to her dishes to give her dishes a little more pizazz. And she made some really tasty combos, I have to say! In fact, I should use more of fruits in my dinners. It goes to show that they aren't necessarily just for eating straight away or for sweets, cakes, desserts and pastries. Me likey!
On another note, my family's doing well at home in the Phils. They're experiencing some showers (go figure), but as they live in the southern half of the country they haven't really noticed much more than that. For them it's business as usual, which I'm very happy about. Still, they're busy raising funds for the people up north (and I encourage you all to do the same!) and preparing themselves with the essentials in case things worsen (which I don't believe will happen). So yeah, I'm feeling a little more at ease now, even though I sympathize greatly with the people around Manila and in the north in general.
Anyway, time to hit the books one last time to finish up for today before I make some hot chocolate and watch something fun on the telly. I'm thinking Sweeney Todd, but then again I kinda wanna watch Strictly Come Dancing as well... *sighs* Choices, choices. Oh, the agony of it all!
Signing off (*chomp*),
Elise
Momiji's Chicken with Apples
* 2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tsp canola oil
* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (in my take of it I used minced chicken meat instead of chicken breasts)
* 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 1/4 cup (about 1/2 dl) apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup (about 2 dl) apple cider
These are quantities for about 4 servings.
This is how you do it according to Momiji: "First sprinkle pepper over chicken. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet, add chicken and sauté until browned, don't brown it too much so it won't be too dry, it will take you about 5 minutes per side. (Alternatively fry minced chicken meat until golden. I sorta' sprinkled the pepper over it as I was frying, although it's probably not the best way to do it.) Take it from your skillet. Then put onion on that skillet and cook it until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Do not brown it or burn it, your onion has to be white, soft and sort of transparent (I fried it until it had a sort of diluted milky color). To that add apple slices and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the pieces constantly. Then return your chicken to pan, mix it all, oninos, apples and chicken, add cider vinegar and apple cider. Simmer until chicken is cooked completely and liquid has reduced - it will take about 5 minutes. And that's it. It is ready to be served."
To this beauty of a dish, I added 2 bundles of boiled somen noodles, tossed it all around and served it up. Having just a teeny kitchen with a teeny fridge (and living by myself) I am very fond of dishes where you can just use one pot or one skillet to mix everything up in. Furthermore, as Momiji herself said, you can serve this with virtually anything: Rice, pasta, noodles, (mashed) potatoes, or perhaps some couscous as well. Might try that next time! And maybe add some finely chopped carrots and/or Chinese cabbage as well. There's definitely room for variation with this dish, if that's what tickles your fancy!
It tasted gloriously! I think I might have reduced the liquid a little too much, though, as there was virtually no more liquid left when it was finished, but then again I have to say I wasn't following the recipe to each and every detail. I kinda like straying away a little from the recipe when it comes to making dinner. (Doing this when baking something is not so wise, however...) You don't need salt in this dish either! I mean, since you fry the chicken, the salt in it will be released anyway, so there's no need at all to add any to it. Besides, the tangy apple flavor from the vinegar, cider and apples is compensation enough! Absolutely scrumptious!
The presence of apples in a dish sorta' took me back to Spain, in a sense. The mother in my host family was very keen on adding apples and/or raisins to her dishes to give her dishes a little more pizazz. And she made some really tasty combos, I have to say! In fact, I should use more of fruits in my dinners. It goes to show that they aren't necessarily just for eating straight away or for sweets, cakes, desserts and pastries. Me likey!
On another note, my family's doing well at home in the Phils. They're experiencing some showers (go figure), but as they live in the southern half of the country they haven't really noticed much more than that. For them it's business as usual, which I'm very happy about. Still, they're busy raising funds for the people up north (and I encourage you all to do the same!) and preparing themselves with the essentials in case things worsen (which I don't believe will happen). So yeah, I'm feeling a little more at ease now, even though I sympathize greatly with the people around Manila and in the north in general.
Anyway, time to hit the books one last time to finish up for today before I make some hot chocolate and watch something fun on the telly. I'm thinking Sweeney Todd, but then again I kinda wanna watch Strictly Come Dancing as well... *sighs* Choices, choices. Oh, the agony of it all!
Signing off (*chomp*),
Elise
Sunday, September 27, 2009
A slightly more serious post, perhaps... [post-edited]
The Philippines has been hit by typhoon Ketsana (a.k.a. "Ondoy"), claiming around 250 deceased and countless more injured (Oct. 1, 2009). This has been the most destructive typhoon ever to hit the Phils in 40 years -- and there's yet another one to come ("Parma", a.k.a. "Pepeng"). According to one of my cousins, it has hit the country already, though they only experience the "outskirts" of the storm rather than the eye of it. They expect the typhoon to reach full strength this coming Saturday. ABS-CBN News (Filipino news program) claim there to be at least 2 possible tracks Pepeng can follow: Either it can directly cross Luzon in a NW path and thus head for Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, or it can change its path upon hitting the island to a more NNW direction and thus head for Hong Kong and Taiwan. So the Philippines and the rest of the world are bracing themselves for what's coming.
Please pray for the souls of the ones affected by it as well as the country as a whole. And if you can, please send in donations or any kind of assistance at all:
Please pray for the souls of the ones affected by it as well as the country as a whole. And if you can, please send in donations or any kind of assistance at all:
Here are also some Norwegian pages of interest:
People are doing what they can to assist those in need at the moment. The Catholic Church in Norway are arranging extra collections on Oct. 3 and 4 to raise funds for Filipino victims, as do several non-profit organizations worldwide. (If you don't want to transfer money online, you can always go to your nearest Catholic church, find a priest and tell him you wish to give a donation. They're more than willing to pass them on!)
Just to clarify, none of my relatives have been affected by the typhoon as far as I know (knock on wood!), but the Filipino people need our assistance. Please, please help in any way you can. A little goes a long, long way.
My aforementioned cousin and his colleagues, friends and family are also doing what they can to raise funds. The destruction has been heartbreakingly extensive, even to the point that President Arroyo opened up her presidential palace to give shelter and food to some of the victims and their families. She has her faults, to be sure, but this -- as certain other feats during her presidential career -- shows to me a greatness of mind which is much worthy of admiration. I totally admire her for this deed and hope for everybody's sake that Pepeng won't wreak as much havoc as believed.
So to everyone reading this post, please keep the victims in your prayers and pray for the new typhoon to change its direction. There has been enough damage done already.
Signing off,
Signing off,
Elise
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Nobody told me there'd be days like these.
In case you didn't know, this is part of the chorus in the all-too-famous John Lennon song "Nobody Told Me". It couldn't be more fitting right now, considering the fact that I've got a cold. Again. Ugh. I'd just barely gotten rid of the first wave (hardly even that, seeing as it's still coming out at the moment) when suddenly, after having laughed my head off last evening/night with a couple of friends, I noticed I got a little sumthin'-sumthin' in my throat. In other words, a hairball. Uy. I went to bed last night with the voice of a gecko and woke up today only to find it was still there. Topped off with my head spinning slightly. Again, uy. So, as in so many times before, I've now stocked up with grapes, a banana, 3 apples, soup for dinner, tea, infusions, lemon juice, honey and peppermint essential oil to gargle with (if worst comes to worst) and to just clear the air of my flat.
And then there's the left-over chocs from last night for the more extreme cases of self-pity. ;-)
"Nobody told me there'd be days like these..."
To keep myself preoccupied, then, the professors have been so kind and generous as to overload us with reading material and a presentation next week. Or well, technically we're talking about two. Yarr.
There is so friggin' much to do this year you have no idea. But then again I just might have been spoiled with only having three 2hr classes last semester and sort of waltzing through it. I might have gotten too used to having more time than enough to read up on the texts and take notes. Now, however, eh. Not so much. Or rather, not as much.
Again, "nobody told me there'd be days like these..."
So yeah, anyway, I went to my second Catholic mass on campus last Wednesday. "Why only second?" you may ask so cleverly. Because of classes always colliding with this mass. They still do. However, a friend/classmate of mine invited me to join in on mass + lunch considering the usual Wed. lecture was canceled, so I did. A few people there, actually, although we were only 7 people. Of which were one priest and myself as the only girl there. Hm. A potentially socially awkward situation, but actually it was quite nice. I felt like I fit in instantly. Needless to say it was all small talk, but for me it was nice to actually get to know some Catholics there; and practicing Catholics at that. And no, no potential bf's there. It was all strictly platonic. I'm not exactly looking for one at the moment either. Don't expect me to elaborate further on that.
"Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Strange days indeed..."
Signing off,
Elise
Saturday, September 05, 2009
My latest find!
One acronym: LOL!
This guy who dubbed this vid is seriously talented!
Check this one out while you're at it:
And here's the original:
Signing off,
Elise
This guy who dubbed this vid is seriously talented!
Check this one out while you're at it:
And here's the original:
Signing off,
Elise
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Ok, y'all know the Swedish Chef is the love of my life, but...
... Well, let's just say I wouldn't mind having a little sumthin'-sumthin' with this guy either...
*sigh* Nostalgia... Why can't we get Cartoon Network as it used to be?! Like, with the old cartoons as well as this kinda stuff? WITHOUT THE NORWEGIAN DUBBING?! AND WHERE DID JOHNNY BRAVO GO?! I seriously miss the dude. *tear*
Signing off,
Elise
*sigh* Nostalgia... Why can't we get Cartoon Network as it used to be?! Like, with the old cartoons as well as this kinda stuff? WITHOUT THE NORWEGIAN DUBBING?! AND WHERE DID JOHNNY BRAVO GO?! I seriously miss the dude. *tear*
Signing off,
Elise
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A day wasted academically speaking, but with lots of thoughts (brace yourself).
Hokai. Back again.
Just finished watching "Moonwalker" on TV, when I really should have continued writing my essay due Fri. It was ok, but you could see that Michael's vids had been pieced together. A little... what's the word... "synthetic"? I didn't really manage to catch the very beginning of it, but with all due respect, Your Majesty, the King of Pop, it just didn't quite... do it for me. I mean, his vids are basically stories in themselves, so trying to piece them together into one story might be too much of a tall order. I dunno. As I said, it was ok.
Furthermore, I'd just finished watching the last part of the televised funeral of Ted Kennedy as well, so by all means, my opinion could have been a little affected by that as well. Catholic as I am, it felt quite nice to see how the ceremonies in the States were in comparison to those here in Norway. Mostly the same, though with a few tweaks to the sequence. By tweaks I mean omissions. But okay. I'll leave it at that. All of the people of political importance in the States seemed to be there: President and Mrs. Obama, Pres. Clinton and Senator Clinton, Pres. and Mrs. Bush, Senator McCain, Senator... Oh, what's her name? You know, the "pigs-wearing-lipstick" Senator... Sarah Palin! Right, that's the one. And then Kennedy's family was there: the few remaining members of the Camelot era (to put it that way) and their kids and grandkids. The eulogies were so moving. They mostly followed the same layout in no particular order: first an address to the family members and the congregation, then impressions of the mass and/or personal sentiments with respect to Kennedy's passing, personal experiences with him, then an alternation between general sentiments and personal experiences before rounding it off. Clichéd to some extent, I guess, but it was interesting to see how alike his sons were to himself - as well as JFK. The latter kind of resemblance (viz. between that of Ted Kennedy's sons and JFK) was the most striking, albeit obvious in that he was their uncle (!). I mean, the eyes, the slightly nasal voices, the marked angular jawlines, and the pronunciation + intonation were striking. Again, it didn't really come as no surprise, but it was so incredibly fascinating to watch the similarities. I have to say, though, that President Obama's speech was for me the best one there, even though -- or perhaps because -- he had a slightly more distanced relationship to the late Ted Kennedy than being a family member.
Oh, and the thing that moved me the most were "Panis Angelicus" (Bread of Angels) performed by Plácido Domingo and Yo-Yo Ma (worldwide reknowned cellist) and "Ave Maria" (Hail Mary; Schubert version) by... some soprano who, due to ignorance, will remain nameless. It might be because I haven't been well lately that I was moved to tears by these performances, but seriously, they were indescribably beautiful. Especially "Panis Angelicus". My God, to think You've created such beautiful voices is just downright amazing!
But pursuing the topic of me not feeling very well, this basically started on Fri. I had 2 classes from 8am to 12pm that day, so at the end of the classes I hadn't eaten since 7:20 or so. So you can imagine I was starving by then. The sound even resonated throughout the classroom (not to the same extent as in ExPhil for those who were so unfortunate as to experience that! Again, sorry...), but it was somewhat uncomfortable for yours truly, at the very least. Anyway, as I had some time inbetween the end of class and doing lunch with a friend of mine, I decided to hand in the police certificate to the faculty administration (to make sure that my criminal record was clean before starting the teaching practice at the school). So after having gobbled down some cottage cheese with strawberry jam, I noticed that my head was still spinning a little. I was clearly hungry. Nonetheless, I had to hand it in, as I wanted to get the whole shebang over with once and for all.
(I'd received a general police certificate which the admin. didn't accept because the relevant articles on teaching in Norwegian law weren't specified. The police sent me a revised one instead -- this time with the wrong name, address and social security number (!!!). Then, after 2 weeks, I finally got the right one (with an apology for the inconvenience on a post-it note).)
So yeah, I handed it in, and after a little hesitance from their part and a bit of 'splaining/telling them off, the administration accepted it. Thank God! I so didn't need that, especially when I was tired, hungry and prone to be exceedingly cranky at that moment. Blargh! Not a good combo.
Either way, I arrived at the cafeteria to meet my friend, I sat down, took off my jacket and waited. I remember feeling a little cold right then, but I didn't pay much attention to that. It persisted, though, and I really started to get a little worried, as my head was still spinning a little and my limbs felt like lead. So after having eaten and chatted a bit, I went home. I literally spent all of that evening lying on my bed, head spinning, limbs feeling extraordinarily heavy, muscles aching suspiciously more than usual after my first workout, and body temperature seemingly alternating between hot and cold. It was normal, though. I just couldn't understand what was going on. Was this a case of the swine flu? Knock on wood! Again, my temperature was around 37C, so I wasn't really sick per se. Just to be on the safe side, I took some paracetamol as I was lying there gulping down tea, chamomile infusion and orange juice (the last few deciliters I had left in the fridge) and tried to chomp on some bread for the sake of getting some solid food in my gut as well. Better to nip it at the bud if it were to be a case of a fever or flu. Didn't work. So before I went to sleep I took another paracetamol tablet and prayed for it to pass. Seriously, right now I don't have time to get sick! I have to have enough energy to finish up my essay!
Right now, after having alternated between sleeping and going to the bathroom during the night and after having spent too much time taking it easy when I woke up to make sure it was all out of my system before I did anything else, I feel much better. I know what it was, but what caused it is up for speculation. I reckon it was probably a combination of unexpectedly much wind and rain, me not eating regularly that day, sitting under a vent in the cafeteria, my sweating after having scurried back and forth from home to campus and around campus, and too much lactic acid in my muscles after my first workout. Mmm... lovely. I'm sure many of you can relate to something similar to this. It's not exactly cloud 9, to put it that way.
Besides uni and a new course program, there's also another issue that's been keeping my mind occupied. About 2.5 weeks ago, I got a text from my mom that a close family friend found a tumor in her uterus. The doctors said it was the size of a child's head (I guess by this they meant the size of a baby's head). They weren't sure if it was benign or malignant, but after having taken a CAT scan they could at least determine that it wasn't spreading, nor was the tumor growing. As this was a delicate matter -- and since she had told this to my mom -- I didn't want to talk to Mom's friend just yet to express my sympathies and support for her and her fam.
Yet just recently I plucked up the courage to send her a text, at least. By that time Mom 'n' Dad had just visited her and her husband, so I thought that she must know that I know about it by now. Anyway, I sent her a message expressing my shock and that she was in my prayers, trying consciously to avoid expressing pity. That's the last thing she needs at the moment. In such cases you want to tread carefully. Support, yes, but pity, no. I rounded it off elegantly with "big hug, Elise". Anyway, she really appreciated it and even told me "if only you knew how great hugs you give, Elise!". A tad awkward as this was more of a virtual hug rather than a physical one (I haven't seen her for ages), but ok. It was nice to get that verification that what I wrote didn't offend her in any way. You never know how people may react in such cases. Anyway, she told me she was doing fine and that she was going to have another run of tests in about 3 weeks time. Apparently the doctors don't want to take any tests of the tumor until they have extracted it completely. This to prevent any potential spreading of any cancerous cells. When this will be done, I don't know as of yet, but I reckon she'll either tell me or Mom about it. For the mean time they try to think as little of it as possible.
There are times like these when you get a slight wake-up call. We aren't as invincible as we'd like to think. We are but mere mortals. You think that these things only happen to those outside your circle of acquaintances, not to those within it. The thing is, they can. That's the cynical, cold, hard truth. I know this from experience, and those of you who have really stuck by me for eons know what I'm talking about.
When I think about this even more, I find that life in itself is basically a constant struggle for survival. You never really think about it when you're in the middle of it, but with every action, be it done consciously or unconsciously, you really are just ensuring that you'll continue living. The thing is just that there are only a few things that are under your control. To put it a little figuratively, you never know what will happen to you when you turn a corner. As Forrest Gump's mom always said: "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." This could never sound truer right now. But the key is -- as we all may be aware of -- is to just take what comes your way and deal with it when it comes. To worry too much about what comes around the bend will result in too much worrying and paranoia. Then again, to worry too little about it is apathetic and cynical. So the golden rule is basically to worry, but not worry too much. All things in moderation. And appreciate all the good things that happen to you, 'cause these are your life's little gems.
Man, this was deep. Heh, again, news such as this kinda gets you thinking.
Now, a little request for you readers out there who might be Christian/Catholic or religious in any way. You might have guessed it by now. Could you please include this family friend of ours in your prayers? Both she and her family need all of our support right now. She's being brave about it all, though, despite all of this. But still, what else can you do but be brave in such a situation? Who wouldn't have to accept what life throws at you? You'd be a fool if you didn't. As she told me: "Life isn't a cakewalk, but you just have to make the most of it."
I know your prayers help. Thanks.
Signing off,
Elise
Ps.: Here's Plácido Domingo's performance from Ted Kennedy's funeral plus the choir singing "Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee" (Brahms). Domingo starts his performance during the Communion, at about 2:04. You can perhaps see/hear why it moved me to tears.
Just finished watching "Moonwalker" on TV, when I really should have continued writing my essay due Fri. It was ok, but you could see that Michael's vids had been pieced together. A little... what's the word... "synthetic"? I didn't really manage to catch the very beginning of it, but with all due respect, Your Majesty, the King of Pop, it just didn't quite... do it for me. I mean, his vids are basically stories in themselves, so trying to piece them together into one story might be too much of a tall order. I dunno. As I said, it was ok.
Furthermore, I'd just finished watching the last part of the televised funeral of Ted Kennedy as well, so by all means, my opinion could have been a little affected by that as well. Catholic as I am, it felt quite nice to see how the ceremonies in the States were in comparison to those here in Norway. Mostly the same, though with a few tweaks to the sequence. By tweaks I mean omissions. But okay. I'll leave it at that. All of the people of political importance in the States seemed to be there: President and Mrs. Obama, Pres. Clinton and Senator Clinton, Pres. and Mrs. Bush, Senator McCain, Senator... Oh, what's her name? You know, the "pigs-wearing-lipstick" Senator... Sarah Palin! Right, that's the one. And then Kennedy's family was there: the few remaining members of the Camelot era (to put it that way) and their kids and grandkids. The eulogies were so moving. They mostly followed the same layout in no particular order: first an address to the family members and the congregation, then impressions of the mass and/or personal sentiments with respect to Kennedy's passing, personal experiences with him, then an alternation between general sentiments and personal experiences before rounding it off. Clichéd to some extent, I guess, but it was interesting to see how alike his sons were to himself - as well as JFK. The latter kind of resemblance (viz. between that of Ted Kennedy's sons and JFK) was the most striking, albeit obvious in that he was their uncle (!). I mean, the eyes, the slightly nasal voices, the marked angular jawlines, and the pronunciation + intonation were striking. Again, it didn't really come as no surprise, but it was so incredibly fascinating to watch the similarities. I have to say, though, that President Obama's speech was for me the best one there, even though -- or perhaps because -- he had a slightly more distanced relationship to the late Ted Kennedy than being a family member.
Oh, and the thing that moved me the most were "Panis Angelicus" (Bread of Angels) performed by Plácido Domingo and Yo-Yo Ma (worldwide reknowned cellist) and "Ave Maria" (Hail Mary; Schubert version) by... some soprano who, due to ignorance, will remain nameless. It might be because I haven't been well lately that I was moved to tears by these performances, but seriously, they were indescribably beautiful. Especially "Panis Angelicus". My God, to think You've created such beautiful voices is just downright amazing!
But pursuing the topic of me not feeling very well, this basically started on Fri. I had 2 classes from 8am to 12pm that day, so at the end of the classes I hadn't eaten since 7:20 or so. So you can imagine I was starving by then. The sound even resonated throughout the classroom (not to the same extent as in ExPhil for those who were so unfortunate as to experience that! Again, sorry...), but it was somewhat uncomfortable for yours truly, at the very least. Anyway, as I had some time inbetween the end of class and doing lunch with a friend of mine, I decided to hand in the police certificate to the faculty administration (to make sure that my criminal record was clean before starting the teaching practice at the school). So after having gobbled down some cottage cheese with strawberry jam, I noticed that my head was still spinning a little. I was clearly hungry. Nonetheless, I had to hand it in, as I wanted to get the whole shebang over with once and for all.
(I'd received a general police certificate which the admin. didn't accept because the relevant articles on teaching in Norwegian law weren't specified. The police sent me a revised one instead -- this time with the wrong name, address and social security number (!!!). Then, after 2 weeks, I finally got the right one (with an apology for the inconvenience on a post-it note).)
So yeah, I handed it in, and after a little hesitance from their part and a bit of 'splaining/telling them off, the administration accepted it. Thank God! I so didn't need that, especially when I was tired, hungry and prone to be exceedingly cranky at that moment. Blargh! Not a good combo.
Either way, I arrived at the cafeteria to meet my friend, I sat down, took off my jacket and waited. I remember feeling a little cold right then, but I didn't pay much attention to that. It persisted, though, and I really started to get a little worried, as my head was still spinning a little and my limbs felt like lead. So after having eaten and chatted a bit, I went home. I literally spent all of that evening lying on my bed, head spinning, limbs feeling extraordinarily heavy, muscles aching suspiciously more than usual after my first workout, and body temperature seemingly alternating between hot and cold. It was normal, though. I just couldn't understand what was going on. Was this a case of the swine flu? Knock on wood! Again, my temperature was around 37C, so I wasn't really sick per se. Just to be on the safe side, I took some paracetamol as I was lying there gulping down tea, chamomile infusion and orange juice (the last few deciliters I had left in the fridge) and tried to chomp on some bread for the sake of getting some solid food in my gut as well. Better to nip it at the bud if it were to be a case of a fever or flu. Didn't work. So before I went to sleep I took another paracetamol tablet and prayed for it to pass. Seriously, right now I don't have time to get sick! I have to have enough energy to finish up my essay!
Right now, after having alternated between sleeping and going to the bathroom during the night and after having spent too much time taking it easy when I woke up to make sure it was all out of my system before I did anything else, I feel much better. I know what it was, but what caused it is up for speculation. I reckon it was probably a combination of unexpectedly much wind and rain, me not eating regularly that day, sitting under a vent in the cafeteria, my sweating after having scurried back and forth from home to campus and around campus, and too much lactic acid in my muscles after my first workout. Mmm... lovely. I'm sure many of you can relate to something similar to this. It's not exactly cloud 9, to put it that way.
Besides uni and a new course program, there's also another issue that's been keeping my mind occupied. About 2.5 weeks ago, I got a text from my mom that a close family friend found a tumor in her uterus. The doctors said it was the size of a child's head (I guess by this they meant the size of a baby's head). They weren't sure if it was benign or malignant, but after having taken a CAT scan they could at least determine that it wasn't spreading, nor was the tumor growing. As this was a delicate matter -- and since she had told this to my mom -- I didn't want to talk to Mom's friend just yet to express my sympathies and support for her and her fam.
Yet just recently I plucked up the courage to send her a text, at least. By that time Mom 'n' Dad had just visited her and her husband, so I thought that she must know that I know about it by now. Anyway, I sent her a message expressing my shock and that she was in my prayers, trying consciously to avoid expressing pity. That's the last thing she needs at the moment. In such cases you want to tread carefully. Support, yes, but pity, no. I rounded it off elegantly with "big hug, Elise". Anyway, she really appreciated it and even told me "if only you knew how great hugs you give, Elise!". A tad awkward as this was more of a virtual hug rather than a physical one (I haven't seen her for ages), but ok. It was nice to get that verification that what I wrote didn't offend her in any way. You never know how people may react in such cases. Anyway, she told me she was doing fine and that she was going to have another run of tests in about 3 weeks time. Apparently the doctors don't want to take any tests of the tumor until they have extracted it completely. This to prevent any potential spreading of any cancerous cells. When this will be done, I don't know as of yet, but I reckon she'll either tell me or Mom about it. For the mean time they try to think as little of it as possible.
There are times like these when you get a slight wake-up call. We aren't as invincible as we'd like to think. We are but mere mortals. You think that these things only happen to those outside your circle of acquaintances, not to those within it. The thing is, they can. That's the cynical, cold, hard truth. I know this from experience, and those of you who have really stuck by me for eons know what I'm talking about.
When I think about this even more, I find that life in itself is basically a constant struggle for survival. You never really think about it when you're in the middle of it, but with every action, be it done consciously or unconsciously, you really are just ensuring that you'll continue living. The thing is just that there are only a few things that are under your control. To put it a little figuratively, you never know what will happen to you when you turn a corner. As Forrest Gump's mom always said: "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." This could never sound truer right now. But the key is -- as we all may be aware of -- is to just take what comes your way and deal with it when it comes. To worry too much about what comes around the bend will result in too much worrying and paranoia. Then again, to worry too little about it is apathetic and cynical. So the golden rule is basically to worry, but not worry too much. All things in moderation. And appreciate all the good things that happen to you, 'cause these are your life's little gems.
Man, this was deep. Heh, again, news such as this kinda gets you thinking.
Now, a little request for you readers out there who might be Christian/Catholic or religious in any way. You might have guessed it by now. Could you please include this family friend of ours in your prayers? Both she and her family need all of our support right now. She's being brave about it all, though, despite all of this. But still, what else can you do but be brave in such a situation? Who wouldn't have to accept what life throws at you? You'd be a fool if you didn't. As she told me: "Life isn't a cakewalk, but you just have to make the most of it."
I know your prayers help. Thanks.
Signing off,
Elise
Ps.: Here's Plácido Domingo's performance from Ted Kennedy's funeral plus the choir singing "Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee" (Brahms). Domingo starts his performance during the Communion, at about 2:04. You can perhaps see/hear why it moved me to tears.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Eye and ear candy. Mostly ear.
This is the song I've had in my head the past few days:
I love this sound. And the vid itself is very artsy fartsy. Love the lighting in it.
And for any of you Simpsons fans out there, one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite scenes from the movie:
Will write more once I get more time.
Signing out,
Elise
I love this sound. And the vid itself is very artsy fartsy. Love the lighting in it.
And for any of you Simpsons fans out there, one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite scenes from the movie:
Will write more once I get more time.
Signing out,
Elise
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Small talk, metablogging and something to get y'all through the weekend.
It's been eons since my last blog. I should get a grip on myself! Seriously.
Finally some time to ever-so-gently place my arse on a chair and sit in front of the computer to blog. Although I don't really feel much like blogging. Or, well, I do, but a complete willingness within is not present.
Aunt, uncle and cousin headed home for about 2 hrs ago. The house is so quiet now. Suddenly now it feels like something's missing. Like our family is not complete without them. Strange, but it'll wear off after a while. Besides, I'll be heading back soon myself so definitely no worries there.
I'm still feeling kinda unprepared to go back to uni. There are a few things that I feel I need to get done before I can really get started. Actually I feel kinda nervous thinking about which school I'll do my teacher training in. How will it turn out? How will the pupils act?
I seriously hope they won't be like the way we were in Elementary + Junior High. *shiver* Mind you, we gave our teachers a really tough time, Maths in particular. We (or rather, some of the guys in our class who shall remain nameless) wore out one teacher after another until we graduated with one teacher who simply refused us to get at him. Patient to the extreme, he was. Bless him. Never raised his voice once. Not sure if I want to be that kind of teacher, though. Keep everything cooped up inside and not letting your students know how infuriated you are with them. Patience is of the essence, yes, but when someone stretches it enough, I'll snap. One way or another.
Anyway, worries aside, just got back from our stay at the cabin. Really nice trip. Even though it wasn't perhaps as quiet as we'd reckoned it to be, it was still very fun. Playing Scrabble and singing our hearts out with our Magic Microphone (the Filipino near-equivalent to Singstar), fishing, sleeping as long as we wished (almost), laughing like heck, and driving around enjoying the scenery. Virtually no disturbances at all. *sigh*
Hm. I don't really have much to say at the mo. I blame that speck of unwillingness to blog. Sometimes when I blogged, I used to end up writing endlessly long posts. Have a look at some of my earlier posts and you'll know what I mean. Now, however, not so much. Strange. It just doesn't come to me as often as before, I guess. The wish to really write something, I mean. Nowadays it just seems to be small talk. Such as this. There are tons of thoughts just waiting to be written down, philosophies on life, love, work, etc., but for some reason I never have access to a computer whenever these thoughts crop up. Bah. Just my luck, I guess.
So, what's my answer to that? Isolate myself from the rest of the world for hours a day in front of the computer waiting for these thoughts to emerge from my subconsciousness? Obviously the answer is "no". So what do I do? Accept it's just a matter of timing? Yeah, why not?
Ooh, randomness! Don't think I've posted this before, but just found a clip from early SNL, from a skit called "Coffee Talk" with host Linda Richman. Yes, it's Mike Myers, the guy behind Austin Powers and yes, he speaks Yiddisch (*heart*). Apparently he based this character on his ex-mother-in-law. Gotta love the accent!
A third affirmative: Yes, Madonna and Roseanne Barr are on the show as well. Watch, laugh and watch out for schpilkes in your genecktickezoink!
Another one with Linda and Barbra Streisand, her idol. If this doesn't get you verklempt, I don't know what will. :-P
*rofl*
Oh, and check out ("Mrs.") Stephen Fry's blog too, while you're at it: http://mrsfrysdiary.blogspot.com/ Definitely a source for some laughs -- or at least a chuckle or two. ;-)
Signing off,
Elise
Finally some time to ever-so-gently place my arse on a chair and sit in front of the computer to blog. Although I don't really feel much like blogging. Or, well, I do, but a complete willingness within is not present.
Aunt, uncle and cousin headed home for about 2 hrs ago. The house is so quiet now. Suddenly now it feels like something's missing. Like our family is not complete without them. Strange, but it'll wear off after a while. Besides, I'll be heading back soon myself so definitely no worries there.
I'm still feeling kinda unprepared to go back to uni. There are a few things that I feel I need to get done before I can really get started. Actually I feel kinda nervous thinking about which school I'll do my teacher training in. How will it turn out? How will the pupils act?
I seriously hope they won't be like the way we were in Elementary + Junior High. *shiver* Mind you, we gave our teachers a really tough time, Maths in particular. We (or rather, some of the guys in our class who shall remain nameless) wore out one teacher after another until we graduated with one teacher who simply refused us to get at him. Patient to the extreme, he was. Bless him. Never raised his voice once. Not sure if I want to be that kind of teacher, though. Keep everything cooped up inside and not letting your students know how infuriated you are with them. Patience is of the essence, yes, but when someone stretches it enough, I'll snap. One way or another.
Anyway, worries aside, just got back from our stay at the cabin. Really nice trip. Even though it wasn't perhaps as quiet as we'd reckoned it to be, it was still very fun. Playing Scrabble and singing our hearts out with our Magic Microphone (the Filipino near-equivalent to Singstar), fishing, sleeping as long as we wished (almost), laughing like heck, and driving around enjoying the scenery. Virtually no disturbances at all. *sigh*
Hm. I don't really have much to say at the mo. I blame that speck of unwillingness to blog. Sometimes when I blogged, I used to end up writing endlessly long posts. Have a look at some of my earlier posts and you'll know what I mean. Now, however, not so much. Strange. It just doesn't come to me as often as before, I guess. The wish to really write something, I mean. Nowadays it just seems to be small talk. Such as this. There are tons of thoughts just waiting to be written down, philosophies on life, love, work, etc., but for some reason I never have access to a computer whenever these thoughts crop up. Bah. Just my luck, I guess.
So, what's my answer to that? Isolate myself from the rest of the world for hours a day in front of the computer waiting for these thoughts to emerge from my subconsciousness? Obviously the answer is "no". So what do I do? Accept it's just a matter of timing? Yeah, why not?
Ooh, randomness! Don't think I've posted this before, but just found a clip from early SNL, from a skit called "Coffee Talk" with host Linda Richman. Yes, it's Mike Myers, the guy behind Austin Powers and yes, he speaks Yiddisch (*heart*). Apparently he based this character on his ex-mother-in-law. Gotta love the accent!
A third affirmative: Yes, Madonna and Roseanne Barr are on the show as well. Watch, laugh and watch out for schpilkes in your genecktickezoink!
Another one with Linda and Barbra Streisand, her idol. If this doesn't get you verklempt, I don't know what will. :-P
*rofl*
Oh, and check out ("Mrs.") Stephen Fry's blog too, while you're at it: http://mrsfrysdiary.blogspot.com/ Definitely a source for some laughs -- or at least a chuckle or two. ;-)
Signing off,
Elise
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
An episode at work.
Today I worked at the room for summer activities for kids in the basement at the Museum of Archaeology and news spread quickly among the employees that there was a cute little kid (about 4-5 years old) who was intensely interested in prehistoric times, especially pertaining to the different species of humans there had been over the ages, e.g. Homo sapiens (i.e. us), Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalis, etc. He'd asked a colleague at the exhibitions about what things that belonged to the various times in which these people live(d). Now downstairs in the basement, after you've entered through the entrance to the activity room, there's a "time machine" which is sort of a small room with mirrors in the ceiling, floor and walls with several A/V effects such as brightly-colored lights, a robotic/computerized voice counting down and an animation demonstrating traveling back in time to the Middle Ages. Now this time machine only goes back in time and you enter from by the stairs and come out on the other side by pushing a door.
As I was downstairs combing some wool, the said 4 year-old comes up to me and asks me: "How do we get back to the Homo sapiens time?" With this he referred to the present instead of the Middle Ages/Iron Age/Stone Age. He continued:
"Do you have to go through the time machine all over again?" To which I replied, prepared to use my imagination to the max:
"Well, you walk out that door over there." I pointed to the entrance to the activity room. Clearly he wasn't really very impressed. I mentally concocted a whole explanation on how this one single door could let you go to the present time when you had to take the time machine in order to go back in time, but I didn't get the chance to present it to him as he asked me before I got the chance to speak:
"Can you take the time machine over again and step out onto the other side to go back to Homo sapiens time?"
To which I smiled to myself, as it was slightly difficult to open the time machine from the other side. "Well, if you can open the door, then yes."
His mother chuckled at my remark, but this did not hinder the little adventurer from going back towards the time machine. Whether or not he managed to get inside, I don't know, but I imagine he did despite the lack of a doorknob.
Mind you, the time machine is one of the most popular attractions at the museum, so I imagine he would use any excuse he could come up with to have another go at it again. And to be honest, I don't blame him. :-) It later turned out that he and his mom had been at the museum for 4 hours straight and that the little kid really didn't want to leave, as he wanted to play even more.
Times such as this sure give you great feedback that the work you do is appreciated. And besides, it's fun to see the kids so into dressing up, playing and testing out the various techniques in making fire and grinding oats. Kinda makes you wanna be in their situation as well. Still, working there sure gets you close to it.
Signing off (happily),
Elise
As I was downstairs combing some wool, the said 4 year-old comes up to me and asks me: "How do we get back to the Homo sapiens time?" With this he referred to the present instead of the Middle Ages/Iron Age/Stone Age. He continued:
"Do you have to go through the time machine all over again?" To which I replied, prepared to use my imagination to the max:
"Well, you walk out that door over there." I pointed to the entrance to the activity room. Clearly he wasn't really very impressed. I mentally concocted a whole explanation on how this one single door could let you go to the present time when you had to take the time machine in order to go back in time, but I didn't get the chance to present it to him as he asked me before I got the chance to speak:
"Can you take the time machine over again and step out onto the other side to go back to Homo sapiens time?"
To which I smiled to myself, as it was slightly difficult to open the time machine from the other side. "Well, if you can open the door, then yes."
His mother chuckled at my remark, but this did not hinder the little adventurer from going back towards the time machine. Whether or not he managed to get inside, I don't know, but I imagine he did despite the lack of a doorknob.
Mind you, the time machine is one of the most popular attractions at the museum, so I imagine he would use any excuse he could come up with to have another go at it again. And to be honest, I don't blame him. :-) It later turned out that he and his mom had been at the museum for 4 hours straight and that the little kid really didn't want to leave, as he wanted to play even more.
Times such as this sure give you great feedback that the work you do is appreciated. And besides, it's fun to see the kids so into dressing up, playing and testing out the various techniques in making fire and grinding oats. Kinda makes you wanna be in their situation as well. Still, working there sure gets you close to it.
Signing off (happily),
Elise
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A little comic relief.
There's nothing more therapeutic than watching someone do the fish slapping dance. IT must be better actually dancing it yourself. Bet it does wonders for your skin. The slimier the fish, the better.
Signing off (with a tinge of blah),
Elise
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Ok, this was a little weird.
I'm still a little aghast about what happened earlier today. The thing is, I didn't really know if he was who I thought he was, and to this moment I still don't. Ok, here's the story:
I'd been writing on my Spanish lit. exam all day and I'd gotten a text from a friend of mine to meet up with her and some other friends for lunch at 2pm. So there I went, happy-go-lucky on my way to the cafeteria to meet up with them, feeling quite content with breathing fresh air again instead of the stuffy one inside my flat. It was raining slightly on my way there, so I'd brought my umbrella. Once I got to the end of the street where I could see my faculty building, suddenly this guy appears coming towards me. He basically wore dark clothes and had a black bag with him, probably on his way to the gym just nearby. He also wore a navy blue hooded sweater and had the hood covering his head because of the rain (go figure). But what caught my attention was the face I could distinguish from underneath it. The thing is, he kinda looked like the Crown Prince.
I looked at him, he looked at me and I thought to myself: "No, it can't possibly be him, can it?" and averted my eyes so that I wouldn't give the impression of staring unnecessarily at him. Still, as I was just about to pass him, I stole a glance at him yet again and I noticed that he was still looking at me. At that point, one word sounded in my mind: "Awkward..." I averted my eyes yet again and quickly passed him by.
At that point I thought: "Was it really him? Nah, it couldn't have. I mean, we're talking about "Krompen" here! (Mind you, that was the first name that came to mind at that time.) Why in the world would he work out at a place filled with students? And there of all places?! How random is that! I mean, seriously, the Royal Family must have some sort of gym to themselves, right? One would expect them to not have to mix and mingle with us commoners? The NRK weatherman is understandable, but HIM? Nah, that's impossible. Or is it? I mean, he did have the beard and facial features all going for him."
I turned around to see if I could still see him from where I was, but he'd already walked too far for me to check. Besides, to walk back, tap his shoulder and ask him in Jærsk: "Du, åm du verkele æ Krompen?" would not exactly be the way to go, would it? I mean, if he really was, I'd really be making quite a spectacle of myself. (His name still didn't manage to enter into my consciousness at that time either.) And besides, I would be too gobsmacked to say anything sensible anyway.
So I just stored that at the back of my head and continued with the scheduled lunch.
So yeah, needless to say, that was nothing short of strange. I mean, I sorta' knew that the Crown Prince goes incognito, but if it were him, it was still puzzling as to why he would work out there, of all places. I mean, he's not exactly a student anymore, now is he? At least I'd expect him to work out somewhere else, like SATS or Elixia or the likes. That sounded more like him, for some reason. But THERE?! Anyway - alas, alack - the answer to my question will never be answered. Hence, the identity of this guy will remain a mystery forever.
Unless I spend my time at the gym 24/7 for the next couple of months.
Signing off (puzzled),
Elise
I'd been writing on my Spanish lit. exam all day and I'd gotten a text from a friend of mine to meet up with her and some other friends for lunch at 2pm. So there I went, happy-go-lucky on my way to the cafeteria to meet up with them, feeling quite content with breathing fresh air again instead of the stuffy one inside my flat. It was raining slightly on my way there, so I'd brought my umbrella. Once I got to the end of the street where I could see my faculty building, suddenly this guy appears coming towards me. He basically wore dark clothes and had a black bag with him, probably on his way to the gym just nearby. He also wore a navy blue hooded sweater and had the hood covering his head because of the rain (go figure). But what caught my attention was the face I could distinguish from underneath it. The thing is, he kinda looked like the Crown Prince.
I looked at him, he looked at me and I thought to myself: "No, it can't possibly be him, can it?" and averted my eyes so that I wouldn't give the impression of staring unnecessarily at him. Still, as I was just about to pass him, I stole a glance at him yet again and I noticed that he was still looking at me. At that point, one word sounded in my mind: "Awkward..." I averted my eyes yet again and quickly passed him by.
At that point I thought: "Was it really him? Nah, it couldn't have. I mean, we're talking about "Krompen" here! (Mind you, that was the first name that came to mind at that time.) Why in the world would he work out at a place filled with students? And there of all places?! How random is that! I mean, seriously, the Royal Family must have some sort of gym to themselves, right? One would expect them to not have to mix and mingle with us commoners? The NRK weatherman is understandable, but HIM? Nah, that's impossible. Or is it? I mean, he did have the beard and facial features all going for him."
I turned around to see if I could still see him from where I was, but he'd already walked too far for me to check. Besides, to walk back, tap his shoulder and ask him in Jærsk: "Du, åm du verkele æ Krompen?" would not exactly be the way to go, would it? I mean, if he really was, I'd really be making quite a spectacle of myself. (His name still didn't manage to enter into my consciousness at that time either.) And besides, I would be too gobsmacked to say anything sensible anyway.
So I just stored that at the back of my head and continued with the scheduled lunch.
So yeah, needless to say, that was nothing short of strange. I mean, I sorta' knew that the Crown Prince goes incognito, but if it were him, it was still puzzling as to why he would work out there, of all places. I mean, he's not exactly a student anymore, now is he? At least I'd expect him to work out somewhere else, like SATS or Elixia or the likes. That sounded more like him, for some reason. But THERE?! Anyway - alas, alack - the answer to my question will never be answered. Hence, the identity of this guy will remain a mystery forever.
Unless I spend my time at the gym 24/7 for the next couple of months.
Signing off (puzzled),
Elise
Monday, April 27, 2009
I've got a song stuck in my head.
Recently I've "discovered" the talent prodigy of one of the most genious musicians of all time, Julian Lennon. And you might guess who his father is. You can notice that there's definitely a substantial amount of his father's genes that have been passed on to him.
I just adore this song. The musical quality and the lyrics are just mind-blowing. I love the use of strings and the guitar riff (which is coincidentally (?) reminiscent of those by George Harrison). Just makes the song sound... full. Complete, in a sense. Just has that flavor to it that seems as if it's bombarding you with sound from all directions. And in perfect harmony. Awesome. The vid to it is fitting, but the song in itself is what stands out to me. Just downright beautiful. So turn the volume up to the max, click "play", sit back and enjoy.
Needless to say, he has that Lennony flavor to his voice, though he definitely has his own style as well when you listen to some of his other songs. A little bit more mainstream than his half-brother Sean (who has chosen a more borderline-experimental-Tim Burton/Danny Elfman-esque style - at least judging by the one song I've heard from him), but still very catchy. Have a listen to "Dead Meat" and you'll know what I mean.
Apparently Julian is going to release another album soon after having had an endlessly long hiatus, and based on this song (and others by him) I'm seriously considering buying it. Or maybe just go for his VH1 collection first. Hm. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I have hardly done anything today besides working out and doing my translation assignment for tomorrow. I just haven't really had the energy for some reason. And they say working out is supposed to give you more energy. Bah. Poppycock. (Which is one of the stranger words in the English language, mind you. You might imagine why...)
Anywho, enough chitchat and nonsense from my part. I should get some things done before it's too late. Not sure if I wanna.
Signing off (blahly),
Elise
I just adore this song. The musical quality and the lyrics are just mind-blowing. I love the use of strings and the guitar riff (which is coincidentally (?) reminiscent of those by George Harrison). Just makes the song sound... full. Complete, in a sense. Just has that flavor to it that seems as if it's bombarding you with sound from all directions. And in perfect harmony. Awesome. The vid to it is fitting, but the song in itself is what stands out to me. Just downright beautiful. So turn the volume up to the max, click "play", sit back and enjoy.
Needless to say, he has that Lennony flavor to his voice, though he definitely has his own style as well when you listen to some of his other songs. A little bit more mainstream than his half-brother Sean (who has chosen a more borderline-experimental-Tim Burton/Danny Elfman-esque style - at least judging by the one song I've heard from him), but still very catchy. Have a listen to "Dead Meat" and you'll know what I mean.
Apparently Julian is going to release another album soon after having had an endlessly long hiatus, and based on this song (and others by him) I'm seriously considering buying it. Or maybe just go for his VH1 collection first. Hm. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I have hardly done anything today besides working out and doing my translation assignment for tomorrow. I just haven't really had the energy for some reason. And they say working out is supposed to give you more energy. Bah. Poppycock. (Which is one of the stranger words in the English language, mind you. You might imagine why...)
Anywho, enough chitchat and nonsense from my part. I should get some things done before it's too late. Not sure if I wanna.
Signing off (blahly),
Elise
Sunday, April 19, 2009
I just HAVE TO share this with you guys!
Just stumbled over this hilarious vid of a panda baby sneezing.
Awright. Back to the books again.
Signing off (roflingly),
Elise
Awright. Back to the books again.
Signing off (roflingly),
Elise
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Birthday.
Ok. My brain says it's breaktime. According to the scent coming from the vent, someone's frying sausages or something like that. I'm not hungry, as I've already filled my stomach with Chinese green tea. That variety is kinda interesting, really. It has a sort of faint smell of seaweed. Not really a flavor you associate with tea, but still tastes good. I've got the song O Fortuna in my head these past few hours, and considering the hectic schedule I've had lately, I can definitely see a connection between these two...
So anyway, as I had a little get-together with a handful of my friends yesterday (I'll have another one with my family tomorrow), I didn't feel any guilt in studying today. Besides, I don't have that much time left for my 3 upcoming deadlines.
Hokai. Here goes. I've got my final Translation hand-in on Tuesday. I'm virtually done with it now, so it's just a matter of touching up the word count and sending it to the professor. One thorn taken away from my side. Now two to go.
I've got an exam-qualifying test on Wednesday in Hispan.Lit. (*shivers*) which I've been studying for all day. I also need to get a few things on the clear about that test, and as the professor told us we could email him if we did have any questions, of course I did last Thursday. He hasn't answered yet, so I figure I'm gonna go to his office on Monday to get everything straight. Mind you, strangely enough I had that same problem in handing in the manuscript for me and a classmate's oral presentation in that same subject. We'd emailed it to him as requested, but it appears that he hasn't received it. I have no clue what's going on, as for many of the other students, they haven't had that same problem. We'd used two different email addresses, and still he hasn't received it.
Note to self: Bring memory stick on Monday.
And then there's an essay in Spanish Pragmatics that I have to hand in the following Monday. And as the topic is relatively broad and we have to make our own investigation, I have no clue where to start seeing as I have so many other things to juggle at the same time. Agay (as in the Filipino word for "ouch"). I've got time, though, and technically speaking I don't have to hand in a complete one, as I'll have enough time to run through all of my assignments for the final hand-in on June 3rd. And then there's exam reviewing - my first 2 exams will start exactly one month from now and I really should start like RIGHT NOW... Oh well.
Sorry about this ranting, I just had to let it out. Things have been really hectic lately, resulting in me neglecting many of my friends. My deepest, sincerest apologies, but this semester is one of those ones where you just plunge into it and not really getting much of a chance to get to the surface to get some air.
Anywho, for all the birthday wishes I've already received, thank you so much - you guys really made my day! :-D Just some bright spots on my cell phone and on fb (metaphorically speaking, obv.) sort of scattered all throughout the day and evening out the dreary business of studying. I really, really appreciate it!
My, aren't we speaking in metaphors today, btw? ;-) I always get like this when I've spent a whole day studying. And this day has gone by so fast, it's almost scary!
So yeah. Awesome. Just feels like any other day, really. I woke up this morning thinking about all the things I was going to do to today and about 2 minutes later I finally remember it's my birthday. It's never taken this long before. Just goes to show how busy I am these days, I guess. But although I'm busy, I really enjoy the stuff I'm doing. I mean, I can sit here trying to sort through my texts of Don Quijote and not realize I've spent 3 hours already. Of course it depends really on how much you get to read in that period of time. If we're talking about 3-4 chapters including a few small breaks inbetween, that's good. If we're talking about one sole chapter - not as good.
Anywho, my nerdy self is definitely shining through in this post. Yarr. Besides, I'm getting tired of sitting here. My butt's getting sore now. Time to stretch and get away from this stuff, as I get a clear "NO MORE!" from my brain. And said butt.
And to top this post off, here's a clip from one of my all-time favorite comedians, Craig Ferguson. Host of the Late Late Show - and he's SCOTTISH!!! For those who know my fascination for Scottish accents (yes, there's more than one!), this should come as no surprise. He's officially American now, though. But he still has that pizzazz to him that some American comedians lack. That little Monty-Python-esque, random-y touch that I love so dearly. Anyway, here he is. This is a somewhat long clip (about 7 mins, I think), but to me it's well worth watching!
Signing off (contently),
Elise
So anyway, as I had a little get-together with a handful of my friends yesterday (I'll have another one with my family tomorrow), I didn't feel any guilt in studying today. Besides, I don't have that much time left for my 3 upcoming deadlines.
Hokai. Here goes. I've got my final Translation hand-in on Tuesday. I'm virtually done with it now, so it's just a matter of touching up the word count and sending it to the professor. One thorn taken away from my side. Now two to go.
I've got an exam-qualifying test on Wednesday in Hispan.Lit. (*shivers*) which I've been studying for all day. I also need to get a few things on the clear about that test, and as the professor told us we could email him if we did have any questions, of course I did last Thursday. He hasn't answered yet, so I figure I'm gonna go to his office on Monday to get everything straight. Mind you, strangely enough I had that same problem in handing in the manuscript for me and a classmate's oral presentation in that same subject. We'd emailed it to him as requested, but it appears that he hasn't received it. I have no clue what's going on, as for many of the other students, they haven't had that same problem. We'd used two different email addresses, and still he hasn't received it.
Note to self: Bring memory stick on Monday.
And then there's an essay in Spanish Pragmatics that I have to hand in the following Monday. And as the topic is relatively broad and we have to make our own investigation, I have no clue where to start seeing as I have so many other things to juggle at the same time. Agay (as in the Filipino word for "ouch"). I've got time, though, and technically speaking I don't have to hand in a complete one, as I'll have enough time to run through all of my assignments for the final hand-in on June 3rd. And then there's exam reviewing - my first 2 exams will start exactly one month from now and I really should start like RIGHT NOW... Oh well.
Sorry about this ranting, I just had to let it out. Things have been really hectic lately, resulting in me neglecting many of my friends. My deepest, sincerest apologies, but this semester is one of those ones where you just plunge into it and not really getting much of a chance to get to the surface to get some air.
Anywho, for all the birthday wishes I've already received, thank you so much - you guys really made my day! :-D Just some bright spots on my cell phone and on fb (metaphorically speaking, obv.) sort of scattered all throughout the day and evening out the dreary business of studying. I really, really appreciate it!
My, aren't we speaking in metaphors today, btw? ;-) I always get like this when I've spent a whole day studying. And this day has gone by so fast, it's almost scary!
So yeah. Awesome. Just feels like any other day, really. I woke up this morning thinking about all the things I was going to do to today and about 2 minutes later I finally remember it's my birthday. It's never taken this long before. Just goes to show how busy I am these days, I guess. But although I'm busy, I really enjoy the stuff I'm doing. I mean, I can sit here trying to sort through my texts of Don Quijote and not realize I've spent 3 hours already. Of course it depends really on how much you get to read in that period of time. If we're talking about 3-4 chapters including a few small breaks inbetween, that's good. If we're talking about one sole chapter - not as good.
Anywho, my nerdy self is definitely shining through in this post. Yarr. Besides, I'm getting tired of sitting here. My butt's getting sore now. Time to stretch and get away from this stuff, as I get a clear "NO MORE!" from my brain. And said butt.
And to top this post off, here's a clip from one of my all-time favorite comedians, Craig Ferguson. Host of the Late Late Show - and he's SCOTTISH!!! For those who know my fascination for Scottish accents (yes, there's more than one!), this should come as no surprise. He's officially American now, though. But he still has that pizzazz to him that some American comedians lack. That little Monty-Python-esque, random-y touch that I love so dearly. Anyway, here he is. This is a somewhat long clip (about 7 mins, I think), but to me it's well worth watching!
Signing off (contently),
Elise
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Unemployed food.
Apparently the economic crisis doesn't only affect us humans...
"You're FIRED!!!"
Donald Trump, eat your heart out.
Signing off (roflingly!),
Elise
"You're FIRED!!!"
Donald Trump, eat your heart out.
Signing off (roflingly!),
Elise
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wuthering Heights.
One of the most beautiful songs I've ever had the fortune of coming across. Whenever I hear this song, I imagine gales, rain and a desolate landscape. Like the area around my home town. Perfect for a dark autumn evening in. The novel on which the song is based is also one of my all-time favorites, and the 1992 movie is a very worthy version of it. The connection and love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff in the novel and in the film is so touching you'd long for it to be possible in real life. And the despair he feels after she's dead and he's left with taking care of her daughter (also named Catherine) and her two cousins, doing so with quite the iron fist really does depict much of the frustration and lunacy he must have felt (and had) from losing the love of his life. A simply wonderful story. All of a sudden I want to read it again.
But seriously, when it comes to artistic expressions of Emily Brontë's work, for me nothing can compare to Kate Bush's haunting gem of a song. Everything comes so beautifully together in it. She quotes the book in a few instances, referring to the actual story extremely closely and the atmosphere of it is eerie and haunting, yet fascinating. It sort of draws you in, allures you into letting the ghost "grab your soul away" by it.
Furthermore, the orchestration is stunning. The simple start with a few bars of a delicate piano, growing with the string section and electric guitars, then the drums, and culminating in the chorus. The combination of chords is downright exquisite, combining the known with a sudden twist to it, to give you an idea that something just isn't quite right in the story. And of course with the chorus seemingly wanting to continue ad infinitum. Which it sort of does, in a sense, in its fading at the very end. And the guitar riff at the end! Aw, man! Just tops it all off gloriously!
When it comes to Kate's voice, it just fits perfectly to it all. Ghostlike, yet at the same time childlike, perhaps alluding back to the childlike aspect of Catherine Earnshaw's persona. I think I read somewhere that in this song she sings in a falsetto voice. Can't really blame her, because the pitch is way, way up there. Beyond the high C, I think. It starts on a high E (if there is such a term... In any case, it's the E after the high C), and her highest note is just one step above, on the F.
She'd actually made 2 music vids for this song, one with her wearing a white dress and surrounded by smoke, against a black backdrop. This one I particularly like. The other one features her in a red dress out in the woods somewhere. It's ok, I guess, but in this case I'd say less is more in terms of background. And the red does not really do it for me with Cathy's ghost image. So yeah, I like the first one better. Either way, her makeup really accentuates her eyes, making them larger and really brings out the haunting image of the protagonist. If Emily Brontë had a chance to hear this song, I'm sure she would be immensely proud - and perhaps shed a tear or two.
Anyway, I'm yapping on now about all kinds of trivia about this song. *lol* That's because I've just stumbled over the most gorgeous montage with this song and the 1992 movie. This user really made sure that the lyrics and images complemented each other. And in addition, the images are so heartbreakingly beautiful in themselves. Yes, it's Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. And I must say they look very nice together, to say the least. Besides, they did one heck of a good job in the movie as well.
And here's Kate's white dress vid, just for the record. :-) Yes, I've posted it before, but I don't think there's anything wrong in posting it again. Heck, I adore that song!
Signing off (and dreaming on),
Elise
But seriously, when it comes to artistic expressions of Emily Brontë's work, for me nothing can compare to Kate Bush's haunting gem of a song. Everything comes so beautifully together in it. She quotes the book in a few instances, referring to the actual story extremely closely and the atmosphere of it is eerie and haunting, yet fascinating. It sort of draws you in, allures you into letting the ghost "grab your soul away" by it.
Furthermore, the orchestration is stunning. The simple start with a few bars of a delicate piano, growing with the string section and electric guitars, then the drums, and culminating in the chorus. The combination of chords is downright exquisite, combining the known with a sudden twist to it, to give you an idea that something just isn't quite right in the story. And of course with the chorus seemingly wanting to continue ad infinitum. Which it sort of does, in a sense, in its fading at the very end. And the guitar riff at the end! Aw, man! Just tops it all off gloriously!
When it comes to Kate's voice, it just fits perfectly to it all. Ghostlike, yet at the same time childlike, perhaps alluding back to the childlike aspect of Catherine Earnshaw's persona. I think I read somewhere that in this song she sings in a falsetto voice. Can't really blame her, because the pitch is way, way up there. Beyond the high C, I think. It starts on a high E (if there is such a term... In any case, it's the E after the high C), and her highest note is just one step above, on the F.
She'd actually made 2 music vids for this song, one with her wearing a white dress and surrounded by smoke, against a black backdrop. This one I particularly like. The other one features her in a red dress out in the woods somewhere. It's ok, I guess, but in this case I'd say less is more in terms of background. And the red does not really do it for me with Cathy's ghost image. So yeah, I like the first one better. Either way, her makeup really accentuates her eyes, making them larger and really brings out the haunting image of the protagonist. If Emily Brontë had a chance to hear this song, I'm sure she would be immensely proud - and perhaps shed a tear or two.
Anyway, I'm yapping on now about all kinds of trivia about this song. *lol* That's because I've just stumbled over the most gorgeous montage with this song and the 1992 movie. This user really made sure that the lyrics and images complemented each other. And in addition, the images are so heartbreakingly beautiful in themselves. Yes, it's Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. And I must say they look very nice together, to say the least. Besides, they did one heck of a good job in the movie as well.
And here's Kate's white dress vid, just for the record. :-) Yes, I've posted it before, but I don't think there's anything wrong in posting it again. Heck, I adore that song!
Signing off (and dreaming on),
Elise
Monday, February 16, 2009
Cute AND gives food for thought.
Yoko Ono posted this note on Fb just recently, and upon reading it I found it rather quite interesting. So (if she doesn't mind me doing so) I thought I'd share it with you all:
25 Things Even My Best Friends Didn't Know Until Now
by Yoko Ono
From the Bottom Up:
1. I like to wiggle my toes when I'm waiting for something - like in the waiting room of my dentist. It makes me less nervous.
2. I like to be barefoot as much as possible. Places I'm definitely barefoot are: a) at home b) in bed c) in the shower. What's wrong? You guessed that much? Well, you never know, do you!
3. In fact I love to put my feet up at the end of the day, and watch them looking kinda good. I say in my mind to them: “Thank you for taking me around for so many years to so many places and still doing so - with happy steps. You're the best!”
4. I have rather short legs to match my short height. I love that. The fact that they're short makes them easier to go around with. Can you imagine if I had long legs? They might go in different directions from each other, or something. Then what would I do? Short legs work very well for me.
5. Okay, I must confess. I love wearing high heel shoes. I love wearing silk stockings. I love wearing hot pants. When I arm myself with those three, I feel like a tough girl from the 1930's. If I didn't look at myself in the mirror, I might just mistake myself for Rita Heyworth, or Marlene Dietrich. How great is that?!
6. Oh, I forgot to tell you about my ankles, calves and thighs. Well, later.
7. I must go back and tell you about my flats. When I wore flats at my college campus in the 50's, I had these great flats which made one of my toes stick out. I thought that it was so creative. Wherever I went, the girls at campus looked at the toe, looked at me, and expressed disapproval with their eyes. I loved it. But they were nowhere as special as high heeled shoes. They did not make my heart beat fast.
8. So now we go to gloves. I love gloves. I have leather ones, lace ones, satin ones. Long, medium, short. All great looking. But I hate wearing them. It's too bad. Because I could wear them and look really sharp. But I don't like them on - my hands cannot breathe properly. My hands love to feel the air, the breeze, the wind, the sun. So I put on really great ones that match my outfit, go out, and take them off right away. It's really too bad. My hands are knobbly and tiny. Not a good combo. So I would love it if I could show off the gloves instead of my hands. But...that's life.
9. I love rings. But for some reason, just like the gloves, I like to take them off right away, as soon as I am alone. I go to an opening wearing a nice ring. I come out of it, get in the car, and the
first thing I do is to take off the ring and put it in my purse. I don't like that feeling of something restricting my finger.
10. Speaking of stuff that bothers me: I hate putting things on my face. They say it's better to put some cream on your face if you don't want to shrivel up like an old potato one day. So I got all the latest cream I read in the ads. But once I had put one of them on, it made me feel so
sticky that I had to immediately wipe it off with a very hot towel. I couldn't help it. My whole face rebelled against the stickiness. Speaking of sticky: Once I put on some green mud on my face and got pimples for a week. That was not good.
11. Now hats! I think everybody has a vague idea that maybe I love hats, since I am always wearing one. In case you might think that maybe I'm trying to hide a bald spot or something, I occasionally take it off to expose my bushy hair. But soon enough, I put it on again. The reason is so complex that I’d have to go to a shrink for a year, and probably still wouldn't find out what's making me do this. I don't go to any shrink, so I will probably never know. Maybe I just like hats. Or maybe I think I will look taller if I wore one. Or maybe I think people's focus will go to my hat and not my face. Of course, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with my face, honey. A girl does not have to hide under a hat, ever. If there were a few wrinkles and shades, they just make you look more interesting.... So they say.
12. All my life my mother told me that I had strong jaws like a guy. It was not womanly. Well, I got them from my father, I think. So yes, I won't say I am particularly feminine. So what? I used to hide my jaws with my long hair. John used to say “Show me your face!” and took my hair out of my face. "Look, you're beautiful. I don't know why you are hiding with your hair." I kept myself hidden.
13. I also kept my hands in my pockets as much as possible. My mother didn’t have to point out to me that my hands were stringy. But they were.
14. My head was unusually large for my small bod. So John called me a “Martian".
15. I look at the sky and feel like my home is somewhere far away - so I thought I might really be a Martian - a result of cross-breeding thousands of years ago.
16. I used to love wandering aimlessly. I used to walk about 7 miles in the city aimlessly, but with the speed of the wind! I can't do that now. If I did it now it would be unfair to the security guard.
17. But I've got tons of great things to do at home. Most people think "what?" Because they want a name for what I do. What is the name for it? I just like pottering around my flat, fixing the crooked frames, looking over the park and day dreaming.
18. It's so nice to see the sky through a small opening of an old fashioned window from my apartment!
19. I think of the days we were gods and goddesses, playing ball with planets. We were larger than dinosaurs. But now we sit like good girls and boys and watch the small tennis ball going left and right, forgetting the days when we use to play with bigger balls. What happens when we shrink even further, and become the size of cockroaches? Will we be still playing with something that echoes the time when we were larger?
20. When the war started, I thought it would be more economical to drop 10 thousand dollar bags from the sky to the people of the country. It's cheaper, and what they need. But now we don't even have enough money to do that.
21. When I daydream, I go all the way to the end of the Earth, and come back. It's a nice exercise.
22. Well actually, not always. Sometimes I just go to the city I love. Once I was flying low in Geneva, and I saw a friend of mine walking. The interesting thing was that friend was somebody who died over ten years ago. He did not have any strong reason to be in Geneva. I just wanted to share this with you because it seems that we just wander where we like, and when we want. Not for any reason. I loved that.
23. Now that you know so much about me, I should not go all the way to 25, or should I? For number 23, Let's say, I am a person who needs a lot of time to myself. If I don't have the time, I will be making it, anyway. My mother use to wave her hand in front of me and say "Yoko are you there?" Well, if I were always there, I would not be me, would I?
24. John and I felt that we were like people in an H.G. Wells story. Two people who are walking so fast that nobody else can see them. Well, that creates a problem, too. Sometimes you want to have a good chat with friends.
25. In a day, sometimes I feel so much love for the world, I think my heart is bursting. Sometimes, I feel so scared, I want to shrink myself even further. I think that's what happened to us gods and goddesses. Like the dinosaurs, we realized that it's too dangerous to be so large. So we kept shrinking ourselves to what we are now. We might get even smaller. I see the sign in the engineers making smaller gadgets, smaller and smaller. Pretty soon, our fingers will be
too large to operate them. So what are we doing? I trust in the human wisdom. We are incredibly intelligent beings. So we might know something without thinking that we know.... Well, even my best friend didn't know until now that I was thinking of crazy things like this.
Have a good day!
yoko ono
New York City
Feb. 2009
* * * * * *
Signing off,
Elise
25 Things Even My Best Friends Didn't Know Until Now
by Yoko Ono
From the Bottom Up:
1. I like to wiggle my toes when I'm waiting for something - like in the waiting room of my dentist. It makes me less nervous.
2. I like to be barefoot as much as possible. Places I'm definitely barefoot are: a) at home b) in bed c) in the shower. What's wrong? You guessed that much? Well, you never know, do you!
3. In fact I love to put my feet up at the end of the day, and watch them looking kinda good. I say in my mind to them: “Thank you for taking me around for so many years to so many places and still doing so - with happy steps. You're the best!”
4. I have rather short legs to match my short height. I love that. The fact that they're short makes them easier to go around with. Can you imagine if I had long legs? They might go in different directions from each other, or something. Then what would I do? Short legs work very well for me.
5. Okay, I must confess. I love wearing high heel shoes. I love wearing silk stockings. I love wearing hot pants. When I arm myself with those three, I feel like a tough girl from the 1930's. If I didn't look at myself in the mirror, I might just mistake myself for Rita Heyworth, or Marlene Dietrich. How great is that?!
6. Oh, I forgot to tell you about my ankles, calves and thighs. Well, later.
7. I must go back and tell you about my flats. When I wore flats at my college campus in the 50's, I had these great flats which made one of my toes stick out. I thought that it was so creative. Wherever I went, the girls at campus looked at the toe, looked at me, and expressed disapproval with their eyes. I loved it. But they were nowhere as special as high heeled shoes. They did not make my heart beat fast.
8. So now we go to gloves. I love gloves. I have leather ones, lace ones, satin ones. Long, medium, short. All great looking. But I hate wearing them. It's too bad. Because I could wear them and look really sharp. But I don't like them on - my hands cannot breathe properly. My hands love to feel the air, the breeze, the wind, the sun. So I put on really great ones that match my outfit, go out, and take them off right away. It's really too bad. My hands are knobbly and tiny. Not a good combo. So I would love it if I could show off the gloves instead of my hands. But...that's life.
9. I love rings. But for some reason, just like the gloves, I like to take them off right away, as soon as I am alone. I go to an opening wearing a nice ring. I come out of it, get in the car, and the
first thing I do is to take off the ring and put it in my purse. I don't like that feeling of something restricting my finger.
10. Speaking of stuff that bothers me: I hate putting things on my face. They say it's better to put some cream on your face if you don't want to shrivel up like an old potato one day. So I got all the latest cream I read in the ads. But once I had put one of them on, it made me feel so
sticky that I had to immediately wipe it off with a very hot towel. I couldn't help it. My whole face rebelled against the stickiness. Speaking of sticky: Once I put on some green mud on my face and got pimples for a week. That was not good.
11. Now hats! I think everybody has a vague idea that maybe I love hats, since I am always wearing one. In case you might think that maybe I'm trying to hide a bald spot or something, I occasionally take it off to expose my bushy hair. But soon enough, I put it on again. The reason is so complex that I’d have to go to a shrink for a year, and probably still wouldn't find out what's making me do this. I don't go to any shrink, so I will probably never know. Maybe I just like hats. Or maybe I think I will look taller if I wore one. Or maybe I think people's focus will go to my hat and not my face. Of course, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with my face, honey. A girl does not have to hide under a hat, ever. If there were a few wrinkles and shades, they just make you look more interesting.... So they say.
12. All my life my mother told me that I had strong jaws like a guy. It was not womanly. Well, I got them from my father, I think. So yes, I won't say I am particularly feminine. So what? I used to hide my jaws with my long hair. John used to say “Show me your face!” and took my hair out of my face. "Look, you're beautiful. I don't know why you are hiding with your hair." I kept myself hidden.
13. I also kept my hands in my pockets as much as possible. My mother didn’t have to point out to me that my hands were stringy. But they were.
14. My head was unusually large for my small bod. So John called me a “Martian".
15. I look at the sky and feel like my home is somewhere far away - so I thought I might really be a Martian - a result of cross-breeding thousands of years ago.
16. I used to love wandering aimlessly. I used to walk about 7 miles in the city aimlessly, but with the speed of the wind! I can't do that now. If I did it now it would be unfair to the security guard.
17. But I've got tons of great things to do at home. Most people think "what?" Because they want a name for what I do. What is the name for it? I just like pottering around my flat, fixing the crooked frames, looking over the park and day dreaming.
18. It's so nice to see the sky through a small opening of an old fashioned window from my apartment!
19. I think of the days we were gods and goddesses, playing ball with planets. We were larger than dinosaurs. But now we sit like good girls and boys and watch the small tennis ball going left and right, forgetting the days when we use to play with bigger balls. What happens when we shrink even further, and become the size of cockroaches? Will we be still playing with something that echoes the time when we were larger?
20. When the war started, I thought it would be more economical to drop 10 thousand dollar bags from the sky to the people of the country. It's cheaper, and what they need. But now we don't even have enough money to do that.
21. When I daydream, I go all the way to the end of the Earth, and come back. It's a nice exercise.
22. Well actually, not always. Sometimes I just go to the city I love. Once I was flying low in Geneva, and I saw a friend of mine walking. The interesting thing was that friend was somebody who died over ten years ago. He did not have any strong reason to be in Geneva. I just wanted to share this with you because it seems that we just wander where we like, and when we want. Not for any reason. I loved that.
23. Now that you know so much about me, I should not go all the way to 25, or should I? For number 23, Let's say, I am a person who needs a lot of time to myself. If I don't have the time, I will be making it, anyway. My mother use to wave her hand in front of me and say "Yoko are you there?" Well, if I were always there, I would not be me, would I?
24. John and I felt that we were like people in an H.G. Wells story. Two people who are walking so fast that nobody else can see them. Well, that creates a problem, too. Sometimes you want to have a good chat with friends.
25. In a day, sometimes I feel so much love for the world, I think my heart is bursting. Sometimes, I feel so scared, I want to shrink myself even further. I think that's what happened to us gods and goddesses. Like the dinosaurs, we realized that it's too dangerous to be so large. So we kept shrinking ourselves to what we are now. We might get even smaller. I see the sign in the engineers making smaller gadgets, smaller and smaller. Pretty soon, our fingers will be
too large to operate them. So what are we doing? I trust in the human wisdom. We are incredibly intelligent beings. So we might know something without thinking that we know.... Well, even my best friend didn't know until now that I was thinking of crazy things like this.
Have a good day!
yoko ono
New York City
Feb. 2009
* * * * * *
Signing off,
Elise
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Omigosh, I found another gem of a vid!
Seriously, Republican or Democrat, this guy is GOOD!!! XD
Signing off (again),
Elise
"Ubi Caritas et Aaaaaamor... Ubi Caritas Deus Ibi Est..."
Why I wrote this, I have no clue. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. (FTR, this is Latin (!) and means something along the lines of "where there is charity and loooooove, where there is charity, God is present.")
So. Long time, no blog. Needless to say, I've been kinda busy lately; what with the whole new idea of studying Hispanic texts from "el Siglo de Oro" ("the Golden Age"). I must admit that I was panicking quite a bit after the first week we had classes. I mean, this course started two weeks after the other ones and if we wanted to change into another we only had 4 days to decide. That is NOT fair. At all. I was in fact one of those who thought about changing courses into something easier (or sounded easier, at least); in fact I'd also discovered a Spanish Poetry course, which would span from the Golden Age to contemporary poetry. However, after having fretted about this to my parents, I decided - at the last minute - to stick to what I already had. Besides, I believe that this course would prepare me better for any challenges ahead in terms of teaching as well as future course qualifications. If I pass this (God willing), I believe this will be of great aid to me. After all, we'll be studying Don Quijote in a little while (i.e. the most famous Spanish novel in the world, and also coincidentally dubbed the "world's greatest novel".
Size-wise, I'm not too sure about that.
Besides this, so far I've managed to stick to my New Year's resolution of working out more. I must admit it's become more of a habit now, which is exactly what I wanted. Mind you, I should have had some more time to do this to get the full benefit of it (and also do some more cardio-vascular exercises - but I find these utterly booooriiiing), but as of now with my Lit. and Pragmatics and all that comes with them this can't be done.
Ugh, I've lost my life. Please leave your name and address in a comment if you've found it.
Hang on, actually, I'm telling a lie here, 'cause Mom's coming over this weekend! *happy dance* Think she's anxious about seeing my new room. Plus she's going to deliver some books from Spain she bought for me when on vacation. Among others... the Spanish version of Don Quijote. I must say I feel kinda guilty for using those books, 'cause they're so pretty... They've got such nice pics in them with glossy pages - and a case to put them in (!)... And there I come with my ammo of highlighters, pens, pencils and erasers ready to smear, smudge, color and scribble all over it. But hey, it's either this or pay up for other varieties of books I already have. So there.
Meanwhile, I've FINALLY finished La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes! Yaaaay! My first completion of a book from the Golden Age!!! It wasn't all bad, it just takes up A LOT of time to look up the words. I'm one of those people who has to scribble down things in the margin or above words to remind myself of what they mean, so that just adds on to the workload. But hey, no pain, no gain. :-)
Oooh, btw, I found the most intriguing vid I've ever come across so far! I dunno, it's just the different reactions of the customers seeing the camera on the conveyor belt (or not even noticing it) and the apparent ignoring of the chefs that's interesting. Very artsy. Besides, I adore sushi, which makes me love this vid even more. :-) Oh, and btw, this was shot at a "Tokyo/Asakasa sushi bar named Maguro-bito".
Signing off (slightly blah, but content for having finished Lazarillo (although the greatest Spanish literary feat remains... *swallows hard*)),
Elise
So. Long time, no blog. Needless to say, I've been kinda busy lately; what with the whole new idea of studying Hispanic texts from "el Siglo de Oro" ("the Golden Age"). I must admit that I was panicking quite a bit after the first week we had classes. I mean, this course started two weeks after the other ones and if we wanted to change into another we only had 4 days to decide. That is NOT fair. At all. I was in fact one of those who thought about changing courses into something easier (or sounded easier, at least); in fact I'd also discovered a Spanish Poetry course, which would span from the Golden Age to contemporary poetry. However, after having fretted about this to my parents, I decided - at the last minute - to stick to what I already had. Besides, I believe that this course would prepare me better for any challenges ahead in terms of teaching as well as future course qualifications. If I pass this (God willing), I believe this will be of great aid to me. After all, we'll be studying Don Quijote in a little while (i.e. the most famous Spanish novel in the world, and also coincidentally dubbed the "world's greatest novel".
Size-wise, I'm not too sure about that.
Besides this, so far I've managed to stick to my New Year's resolution of working out more. I must admit it's become more of a habit now, which is exactly what I wanted. Mind you, I should have had some more time to do this to get the full benefit of it (and also do some more cardio-vascular exercises - but I find these utterly booooriiiing), but as of now with my Lit. and Pragmatics and all that comes with them this can't be done.
Ugh, I've lost my life. Please leave your name and address in a comment if you've found it.
Hang on, actually, I'm telling a lie here, 'cause Mom's coming over this weekend! *happy dance* Think she's anxious about seeing my new room. Plus she's going to deliver some books from Spain she bought for me when on vacation. Among others... the Spanish version of Don Quijote. I must say I feel kinda guilty for using those books, 'cause they're so pretty... They've got such nice pics in them with glossy pages - and a case to put them in (!)... And there I come with my ammo of highlighters, pens, pencils and erasers ready to smear, smudge, color and scribble all over it. But hey, it's either this or pay up for other varieties of books I already have. So there.
Meanwhile, I've FINALLY finished La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes! Yaaaay! My first completion of a book from the Golden Age!!! It wasn't all bad, it just takes up A LOT of time to look up the words. I'm one of those people who has to scribble down things in the margin or above words to remind myself of what they mean, so that just adds on to the workload. But hey, no pain, no gain. :-)
Oooh, btw, I found the most intriguing vid I've ever come across so far! I dunno, it's just the different reactions of the customers seeing the camera on the conveyor belt (or not even noticing it) and the apparent ignoring of the chefs that's interesting. Very artsy. Besides, I adore sushi, which makes me love this vid even more. :-) Oh, and btw, this was shot at a "Tokyo/Asakasa sushi bar named Maguro-bito".
Signing off (slightly blah, but content for having finished Lazarillo (although the greatest Spanish literary feat remains... *swallows hard*)),
Elise
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Stolen...
... From Eva:
* * * * * *
Put your mp3-player on shuffle and fill out the gaps.. NO CHEATING!! :D
1. How does the world see me? - "F.B.I." by the Shadows. (*lol* My secret undercover job has been identified. Busted. Darn.)
2. Will I have a happy life? - "Back in Black" by L8R. (I take that as a... yes...? With attitude and a bad Norwenglish accent (the Norwenglish accent is pretty bad in itself)? Although it being a cover of the original, my life will perhaps be filled with synths and lousy keyboard effects? Hm. I need to think this one over a little more...)
3. What do my friends really think of me? - "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. (Um... Beneath that sweet and goodie-two-shoes exterior there's either a steaming hot mama or a groupie wannabe? Yeah. That has to be it. *rofl*)
4. Do people secretly lust after me? - "Cry to Me" by Solomon Burke. (Perhaps not... They may just seek me for consolation and a shoulder to cry on.)
5. How can I make myself happy? - "I Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison. (*raw laughter* Get myself a boyfriend? Find the One? Act desperate? Bribe? (cf. "But it's gonna take money, a whole lot of precious money, it's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right, child..."))
6. What should I do with my life? - "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)" by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye. (There we go, leave civilization and a budding teaching career and lead my life primitively in the jungle!!!)
7. Will I ever have children? - "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" by Queen. (Come again? õ.O)
8. What is some good advice for me? - "My Generation" by the Who. (*giggle* Stay young? Be more in touch with contemporary impulses?)
9. How will I be remembered? - "Wind of Change" by Scorpions. (Yup, I'll have left my mark and heralded a new era!)
10. What is my signature dancing song? - "Ave Maria" by Josh Groban. (Hardly!!! Not really a dancing song per se. Furthermore, I do not know how to dance, so maybe there's a link to that in the song choice.)
11. What do I think my current theme song is? - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers. (THIS COULDN'T BE ANY TRUER THAN THAT!!!)
12. What does everyone else think my current theme song is? - "Life Itself" by Bruce Springsteen. (Don't know if there are that many of my peers who know about this song. A little too boring for me to be a theme song - unless I'm in a very very melancholy mood, which I'm not at the moment.)
13. What song will play at my funeral? - "Spinning Wheels" by Blood, Sweat and Tears. (Hm, I guess that kinda taps into the philosophic side of mine as well as my inclination for listening to groovy oldies, but other than that... nah.)
14. What type of men/women do you like? - "Build Me Up, Buttercup" by Busted and McFly. (Emotional, yet edgy; contemporary, yet not exactly loathing the past either; direct and... mooshy. *aww* Yeah, sure, that could do. And let's not forget the uniform, eh?)
15. What is my day going to be like? - "Just a Girl" by No Doubt. (Oh yes. Lots of attitude, yet in tune with my feminine side. Very "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion". Kewl.)
16. Will be my wedding song? - "Power to All Our Friends" by Cliff Richard. (Very hippie-esque and with a firm beat, but not exactly the song I want Dad to lead me down the aisle by...)
17. Will be the last words coming from my mouth? - "Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono. (Ok...?)
18. Will be the first thing I say to my unknown love to come? - "Un Giorno per Noi" by Josh Groban. (*awww* Although I hope it won't be a starcrossed love as it was in the case of Romeo and Juliet...)
19. Will be the song I sing to my lover on our first date? - "Ave Maria" by N. N. (This is the instrumental version, so if worst comes to worst, I'll at least hum it. However, unless he's a firm Catholic or a die-hard fan of classical music, he might just think I'm weird.)
20. Will be the song my lover sing to me? - "Together Forever" by Rick Astley. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is going to be interesting!!!)
21. How will my life end? - "Homeward Bound" by Simon & Garfunkel. (How fitting is that?! Comin' home to my Lord!)
22. Will I be reborn? - "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" by Simon & Garfunkel. (Huh? Either reborn as a guy or as an architect? Or both? I need to think through this one...)
23. Will be my heartbroken song? - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by the Beatles. (Oh yeah! The perfect pick-up song! "Life goes on, RAH! La-la-la-la-life goes on!")
* * * * * *
Not quite bad this one!
Signing off ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, life goes on, RAH! La-la-la-la-life goes on!"),
Elise
* * * * * *
Put your mp3-player on shuffle and fill out the gaps.. NO CHEATING!! :D
1. How does the world see me? - "F.B.I." by the Shadows. (*lol* My secret undercover job has been identified. Busted. Darn.)
2. Will I have a happy life? - "Back in Black" by L8R. (I take that as a... yes...? With attitude and a bad Norwenglish accent (the Norwenglish accent is pretty bad in itself)? Although it being a cover of the original, my life will perhaps be filled with synths and lousy keyboard effects? Hm. I need to think this one over a little more...)
3. What do my friends really think of me? - "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. (Um... Beneath that sweet and goodie-two-shoes exterior there's either a steaming hot mama or a groupie wannabe? Yeah. That has to be it. *rofl*)
4. Do people secretly lust after me? - "Cry to Me" by Solomon Burke. (Perhaps not... They may just seek me for consolation and a shoulder to cry on.)
5. How can I make myself happy? - "I Got My Mind Set on You" by George Harrison. (*raw laughter* Get myself a boyfriend? Find the One? Act desperate? Bribe? (cf. "But it's gonna take money, a whole lot of precious money, it's gonna take plenty of money, to do it right, child..."))
6. What should I do with my life? - "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)" by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye. (There we go, leave civilization and a budding teaching career and lead my life primitively in the jungle!!!)
7. Will I ever have children? - "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" by Queen. (Come again? õ.O)
8. What is some good advice for me? - "My Generation" by the Who. (*giggle* Stay young? Be more in touch with contemporary impulses?)
9. How will I be remembered? - "Wind of Change" by Scorpions. (Yup, I'll have left my mark and heralded a new era!)
10. What is my signature dancing song? - "Ave Maria" by Josh Groban. (Hardly!!! Not really a dancing song per se. Furthermore, I do not know how to dance, so maybe there's a link to that in the song choice.)
11. What do I think my current theme song is? - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers. (THIS COULDN'T BE ANY TRUER THAN THAT!!!)
12. What does everyone else think my current theme song is? - "Life Itself" by Bruce Springsteen. (Don't know if there are that many of my peers who know about this song. A little too boring for me to be a theme song - unless I'm in a very very melancholy mood, which I'm not at the moment.)
13. What song will play at my funeral? - "Spinning Wheels" by Blood, Sweat and Tears. (Hm, I guess that kinda taps into the philosophic side of mine as well as my inclination for listening to groovy oldies, but other than that... nah.)
14. What type of men/women do you like? - "Build Me Up, Buttercup" by Busted and McFly. (Emotional, yet edgy; contemporary, yet not exactly loathing the past either; direct and... mooshy. *aww* Yeah, sure, that could do. And let's not forget the uniform, eh?)
15. What is my day going to be like? - "Just a Girl" by No Doubt. (Oh yes. Lots of attitude, yet in tune with my feminine side. Very "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion". Kewl.)
16. Will be my wedding song? - "Power to All Our Friends" by Cliff Richard. (Very hippie-esque and with a firm beat, but not exactly the song I want Dad to lead me down the aisle by...)
17. Will be the last words coming from my mouth? - "Walking on Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono. (Ok...?)
18. Will be the first thing I say to my unknown love to come? - "Un Giorno per Noi" by Josh Groban. (*awww* Although I hope it won't be a starcrossed love as it was in the case of Romeo and Juliet...)
19. Will be the song I sing to my lover on our first date? - "Ave Maria" by N. N. (This is the instrumental version, so if worst comes to worst, I'll at least hum it. However, unless he's a firm Catholic or a die-hard fan of classical music, he might just think I'm weird.)
20. Will be the song my lover sing to me? - "Together Forever" by Rick Astley. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is going to be interesting!!!)
21. How will my life end? - "Homeward Bound" by Simon & Garfunkel. (How fitting is that?! Comin' home to my Lord!)
22. Will I be reborn? - "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" by Simon & Garfunkel. (Huh? Either reborn as a guy or as an architect? Or both? I need to think through this one...)
23. Will be my heartbroken song? - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by the Beatles. (Oh yeah! The perfect pick-up song! "Life goes on, RAH! La-la-la-la-life goes on!")
* * * * * *
Not quite bad this one!
Signing off ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, life goes on, RAH! La-la-la-la-life goes on!"),
Elise
Monday, January 19, 2009
Why didn't I think of this before?
A new era, a new domain. Big words are my passion. If this doesn't prove it enough, I don't know what will.
Meanwhile, major workout day today (*accomplished*), balanced out with studying (not as much as I had hoped for, but still). Also tried Chinese miso soup bought in SVG Asian shop. Tasted good (especially with dried seaweed and (soft...) tofu); had teeny tiny mushrooms in it (nothing special, to be honest); expiry date was good... so yeah. What a gripping life I do lead. *lol*
Will finally lunch with Spanish friend tomorrow (from whom I inherited new flat/room). Can't wait to see her, although we're only talking about 2 hrs tops. :-S Oh well.
*listening to the Solids' "Hey Beautiful" and crooning along*
Yeah, I should hit the sack, shouldn't I?
Signing off, (heading off to Bedfordshire (i.e. NOT procrastinating)),
Elise
Meanwhile, major workout day today (*accomplished*), balanced out with studying (not as much as I had hoped for, but still). Also tried Chinese miso soup bought in SVG Asian shop. Tasted good (especially with dried seaweed and (soft...) tofu); had teeny tiny mushrooms in it (nothing special, to be honest); expiry date was good... so yeah. What a gripping life I do lead. *lol*
Will finally lunch with Spanish friend tomorrow (from whom I inherited new flat/room). Can't wait to see her, although we're only talking about 2 hrs tops. :-S Oh well.
*listening to the Solids' "Hey Beautiful" and crooning along*
Yeah, I should hit the sack, shouldn't I?
Signing off, (heading off to Bedfordshire (i.e. NOT procrastinating)),
Elise
Friday, January 16, 2009
There.
After having emigrated (to another flat/room - just down the hall) I feel I can take things a little easier now. Furthermore, my discontent of having accidentally DELETED that endlessly long POST has receded; I've bought most of the course material for the semester (these courses are ridiculous in terms of the number of lectures!); and I've managed to settle in somewhat. Well, I still need to get fully accustomed to this novel territory of mine (cf. new flat/room), but so far so good.
So, what I was aiming to write here before "the Great Delete" (ARGH), was that Christmas was basically more or less same ol' same ol'. Just a nice quiet celebration with heaps of good food that I need to sweat off these next couple of months - and maintain that pace. Besides, Christmas this year had for me an aura of relief. I guess I still had last Christmas in my mind and was so thankful that Mom was physically here this time.
New Year's Eve was also quite nice. Not as quiet this time as in other years, since my cousin (who's now fully established in SVG) paid us a visit. Needless to say, we had an awesome time.
Resolutions? I'm not a really great fan of New Year's resolutions, although after all that food I sense the need to actually make some either way. The most important one being working out - and sticking to it. But in summing up, what's there to say about last year, then?
In summing up 2008, I have...
Ok. So generally speaking, this is roughly what the year turned out to be. Pretty good compared to last year, I have to say. An excellent year's progress. All the best for 2009 to all!
Starting off the new year, here's a gem of a vid:
And in addition, another vid (which cannot be embedded... *tear*):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MatUG_xTMg
Signing off,
Elise
So, what I was aiming to write here before "the Great Delete" (ARGH), was that Christmas was basically more or less same ol' same ol'. Just a nice quiet celebration with heaps of good food that I need to sweat off these next couple of months - and maintain that pace. Besides, Christmas this year had for me an aura of relief. I guess I still had last Christmas in my mind and was so thankful that Mom was physically here this time.
New Year's Eve was also quite nice. Not as quiet this time as in other years, since my cousin (who's now fully established in SVG) paid us a visit. Needless to say, we had an awesome time.
Resolutions? I'm not a really great fan of New Year's resolutions, although after all that food I sense the need to actually make some either way. The most important one being working out - and sticking to it. But in summing up, what's there to say about last year, then?
In summing up 2008, I have...
- Laughed more than I've cried (I think I only cried once this year; with no other apparent reason than the mere acting like a stress reliever)
- Gained friends
- Recovered acquaintances
- Been really bad at keeping in touch with people abroad (my fault - I try, but ultimately I suck at this)
- Worked hard
- Earned pretty good grades
- Missed doing yoga
- Been melancholic
- Been neurotic (oh yes...)
- Traveled
- Stressed out (there's no way out of this one)
- Taken responsibility for own actions
- Breathed (you usually don't realize this, but breathing is not only one of the most essential things you do as a human being (!), but also is one of the quickest ways of functioning as a stress reliever... In my case, that and crying! *lol*)
- Argued against people
- Been proven wrong
- Been proven right
- Eaten good food
- Worked out (note to self: Continue doing this!)
- Gone to church
- Traveled
- Practiced Spanish (should do a little more of this this year)
- Drunk Spanish hot chocolate (once you've tried it, there's no way back!)
- Gotten hooked on ginger candies (*swoon*)
- Been consulted on various matters
- Been in need of consultation on various matters
- Been weak
- Been strong
- Used circumlocutions too much (often leading in others looking at me bewilderedly, muttering the occasional "Huh?" and/or them thinking that "she could have said it so much easier!" Who needs Occam's razor, eh?)
- Stated my opinion
- Wondered
- Learnt
- Taught (not exceedingly much, but still)
- Given
- Taken
- Been too honest at times
- Been vain (sadly)
- Concentrated on more things than needed
- Multitasked (with varying degrees of success *lol*)
- Had quiet moments with God
- Meditated
- Felt at one with everything
- Wanted to keep a pet in my flat (oh well, I'll just have to save that 'till later)
- Felt annoyed (Little Drummer Boy, anyone?)
- Felt frustrated
- Felt happy
- Felt energetic
- Felt relieved
- Felt content
- Felt utterly shallow and "Kinder egg"-like (you have to compensate for the deep part of your personality, don't you?)
- Given me time to myself
- Visited people
- Participated in heated discussions about various topics
- Started and completed projects
- Enjoyed the silence when the snow fell outside
- Enjoyed a good book (actually many good books)
- Expanded my vocabulary (especially in Spanish)
- Seized the opportunity
- Cut my hair
- Lived
Ok. So generally speaking, this is roughly what the year turned out to be. Pretty good compared to last year, I have to say. An excellent year's progress. All the best for 2009 to all!
Starting off the new year, here's a gem of a vid:
And in addition, another vid (which cannot be embedded... *tear*):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MatUG_xTMg
Signing off,
Elise
Sunday, January 11, 2009
CRAP.
I'd just posted a loooooooooooooooong entry and OF COURSE, in my sheer STUPIDITY, I LOST IT.
Words cannot express the annoyance I feel right now.
I'll just have to let it cool down and write everything AGAIN.
Some other time. Bah.
Signing off (irately),
Elise
Words cannot express the annoyance I feel right now.
I'll just have to let it cool down and write everything AGAIN.
Some other time. Bah.
Signing off (irately),
Elise
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