Down to the beach to play

All next week Cold in Norway will actually be Warm in Croatia. We're leaving tomorrow :-)


maggie and milly and molly and may

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

e. e. cummings

How to watch porn when you're at a conference

Dette sammendraget er ikke tilgjengelig. Klikk her for å se innlegget.

Oslo again

Off to a conference in Oslo. I'm looking forward to talks such as From sexual liberation to ‘porn chic’ – historical reflections in a Nordic perspective and Invisibility and desire: Masculinity and the soft-porn approach to gender. Should be fun! Girlfriend will join me on Friday, which is the same day as Skeive dager (gay week) starts. More fun!

Also, they say that the weather in Oslo has been really nice the last few weeks, so the Oslo fjord should be nice and warm, maybe 18-19 degrees. Which is a welcome change from the Trondheim fjord. Although the Trondheim fjord is 12-13 degrees now, which is quite decent compared to my February swim.

I won't let girlfriend forget that I was the first to go swimming in the fjord this year. But I have to give her some credit: three days ago she jumped straight into the water from the diving board (2,5 meters above water) without even testing it. She also had to swim longer to get back to the stairs. While I chose the stairs, and swam like five breast strokes. Two out from the stairs, and three very quick ones to get back to the stairs and out of the water!

We'll run and hide

This poems connects beautifully with Frances Cornford's "Childhood", I think.

Come On -
Deep inside,
behind that heavy knee I've got today,
lies another, smaller knee,
a little dirty, and scraped.
And within my fingers, all five of them,
lies a small hand, another one,
still a bit anxious, but warm.
And far inside my skull,
in the innermost part,
other thoughts are tingling,
odd and small ones, almost wrapped up tight, but they're still
breathing. Full of expectation, almost of joy.
Sometimes they itch -
they want to come out and play
hide-and-seek with me. Often - often.
But then they're suddenly gone. I can't
find them. So many years have passed,
so many layers of time
have settled over everything.
--- But come on back. Come on,
we'll run and hide,
every one, every one.

Rolf Jacobsen (1907 - 1994)
From Did I Know You?, 1997. Translated and edited by Roger Greenwald.

Kom igjen -
Dypt derinne,
bakenfor det tunge kneet mitt i dag,
ligger et annet lite kne,
litt skittent og med skrubbsår på.
Og inne i fingrene mine, alle fem,
ligger en liten hånd, en annen,
ennå litt engstelig, men varm.
Og langt inne i skallen min,
helt innerst der,
kribler det av andre tanker,
rare og små, nesten med hyssing rundt, men de puster
ennå. Fulle av forventning, nesten av fryd.
Det hender det klør i dem -
de vil ut og leke
gjemsel med meg. Ofte - ofte.
Men da er de borte plutselig. Jeg finner
dem ikke igjen. Det er gått så mange år,
og blitt så mange svære lag av tid
utenpå alt.
--- Men kom igjen da dere. Kom igjen,
så løper vi og gjemmer oss
alle, alle.

Rolf Jacobsen. Fra "Tenk på noe annet" [Think About Something Else], 1979.

Please sing with me: Holiday! Celebrate!

This is the T-shirt I wore Wednesday, when we went out drinking beer after the oral examination

This is perhaps a bit over the top? :-)

So, the presentation and the oral examination went very very well. And I was extremely pleased with the grade I got for (on?) my thesis! My best friend quickly made the necklace you see on the photo, after she heard about my grade. She gave it to me when we were celebrating, and told me to wear it all evening. I asked my supervisor (who also went out with us) if I could wear the necklace the next day too. She said: "I think you should wear it ALL summer!"

My girlfriend was really pleased too. We had a bet going before I got the result. I thought I would get a B, she was pretty certain I would get an A. If I was right, she would have to buy a weekend trip to Copenhagen or London. If SHE was right, I would have to fork out.

I lost. But I feel like a winner, of course. An unemployed winner, unfortunately, but still a winner!:-)