Hammerfest

Check out Hammerfest! I'm going there tonight - it'll be great to have some days off:-) Have a great weekend, everyone!

Busy

As you might have guessed - I'm a little busy at the moment, learning to be a headmaster. It's busy, but also very interesting and fun!

During work hours there's no time for blogging nor blog reading. And I don't have internet at home. On the other hand: in the evenings I have time to read a lot of books! I read 24 books in August, that's a new record for me. (Now I have TV, so it probably won't happen again.)

No promises for the next few weeks - but at some point there will be photos... :-)

Sea rafting from Båtsfjord to Syltefjord

Getting ready!


Starting out from Båtsfjord:


Makkaur Lighthouse:


Stauran, a place that is very popular amongst the birds. We even saw two sea eagles!


Syltefjord. People normally lives here only during summer, the road closes during winter.


The local cafe:


Going back to the boat:

I've moved north!

This is my first day in the new job. Photos to come soon:-)

Rhodes

The view from our balcony.

Sunset - also from our balcony. We had a really nice room:-)

Girlfriend's magnificent timing.

The beach where we spent most of the day.

What people told us about Rhodes proved to be true. It's kind of touristy, but very very nice there. And the colour of the ocean -I don't think I would ever tire of this kind of blue!

Off to Rhodes (Greece)

Thank you sooo much for all the congratulations!:-D

We've noticed that the really cool thing about a secret wedding, is that friends, work and family keep throwing us mini parties! It's very nice. We're planning a bigger party later, maybe next summer? People could celebrate our first wedding anniversary (AND the seven year itch)with us! That would be great.

Off to Rhodes tomorrow. Little did we know, when we booked that holiday, that it was going to be our honeymoon!:-) Next post will, hopefully, show you some photos from our "holimoon". We've never been there before. People tell us that it is kind of touristy there, but still it's a very nice place. We'll let you know what we think!

Guess what?

Curiousa and I got married last Friday! We decided three weeks ago, and managed to swing it (although it had us running between different offices with letters and signatures a few days before the wedding).

After the wedding we drank champagne and ate strawberries with our "best women".

Then we told our parents.

Who were thrilled, of course:-)

The day after the wedding we threw a summer party. When all the guests had arrived, we got up and said: "Welcome to the summer party. Also, this is a wedding party, we got married yesterday. Champagne for all!"

It was an excellent weekend! And, I have to say, being married isn't half bad:-)

Summer in Trondheim

It's really, really warm here now. So inbetween fixing stuff, packing and testing cars we might want to buy - I try to take some time off!

Yesterday I went to the forest:


Today I want to go swimming:

Trying to Write a Love Poem (for Michael Bronski)

Since most of my words go to describe
loves that fail, tricks who come & go,
it's no surprise I have no poems for you.

Shall I, trying to write one, say: You
are the man who stole white lilacs from
Harvard to help me find spring in a

dull season? Or that three years ago we
met in a bath house in New York City, strangers
making love in the shelter of sauna & steam?

Would it be too silly to say I like to think
we're Leonard & Virginia Woolf? Don't worry --
I'll not tell which of us is Virginia. But

if I suffer a total breakdown after trying
to write you this poem -- & if you
drop all work on your next essay to

put me together, take care of my cat, they'll
know. Meanwhile, you should know that
when I see aged couples clutching each

other walking quick as they can from
muggers & death -- I see us. & that if you
die first, someone will have to, like they

would a cat without hope or home, put me to,
as it's sometimes called, sleep; & though you
don't believe in heaven, & taught me how empty

& odd my own plan for it was, I imagine we've
already known it -- at the baths, in your
loft bed; in stolen lilacs, in each stroke you

give my cat, my cock; & though I'm agnostic
now, I never question why the archangel who
sent down the devil is called Saint Michael.

Walta Borawski

A text by Michael Bronski here.

Oslo

I'm in Oslo, doing this. It also happens to be Gay Week (or Queer days), so I've seen a few movies: Itty Bitty Titty Committee and Spider Lilies were very different, but I really liked both of them. Tonight I' going to a concert.

But the biggest news are this: yesterday girlfriend got the job she wanted! :-)

Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow.
~ Don Herold

Moving house

..takes A LOT of time!

I'll be going North in 5-6 weeks, before that I'll be

- spending a week in Oslo (holiday, and job related).

- spending a week in Greece (holiday! Sunshine!).

- reading and preparing for the new job as much as I can.

- buy a new car.

- fingers crossed so that blogging girlfriend gets the job she wants! Read more about it in her blog.

- get rid of stuff I don't want to bring to Finnmark.

- find out how much it costs to move the stuff I want to bring to Finnmark. (My guess: quite a lot.)

- Say good bye to a lot of good friends, and make sure that they'll come and visit soon!

- and lots more.

It's overwhelming sometimes, but most of all I'm excited and happy! It's a good place to be:-)

Photos, June 1, 2007

Seen from the air

Part of the village

Near one of the schools

Near town hall. Later in the summer, the boat is filled with flowers

Moving north

I got the job! Thanks for all the vibes! I'll tell you more (and post som photos) when the sun stops shining:-)

Going north 2

Photo by somby. More about this place here.

This is another place I might get a job, and a very interesting job too! Send vibes! It's nerve-racking at the moment, because I've sent off a bunch of job applications, and so far no-one's said "yes", but no-one's said "no" either! So I'm in limbo.

Si ja!

Alle som forstår norsk, ta en titt på dette:

Si ja - til felles ekteskapslov

Sometimes it Happens

And sometimes it happens that you are friends and then
You are not friends,
And friendship has passed.
And whole days are lost and among them
A fountain empties itself.

And sometimes it happens that you are loved and then
You are not loved,
And love is past.
And whole days are lost and among them
A fountain empties itself into the grass.

And sometimes you want to speak to her and then
You do not want to speak,
Then the opportunity has passed.
Your dreams flare up, they suddenly vanish.

And also it happens that there is nowhere to go and then
There is somewhere to go,
Then you have bypassed.
And the years flare up and are gone,
Quicker than a minute.

So you have nothing.
You wonder if these things matter and then
As soon you begin to wonder if these things matter
They cease to matter,
And caring is past.
And a fountain empties itself into the grass.

-- Brian Patten

I tried to learn this poem by heart one day last summer, reading it and thinking it to myself for about eight hours (while I was doing a really boring job). I love reading poetry, but usually I read a poem or two, then think along these lines:

A. I don't like it
B. I like it. Now let me read it again to see if I really like it
C. It's boring
D. I don't understand it

Then I move on to something else.

Thinking about just one poem for a whole day was something completely different. I recommend it. The poem opened up in ways I didn't expect. Which I really liked. Also, it was great and kind of surprising that such a (at first glance) simple and not too long poem could keep me occupied for eight hours.

Fingers crossed!

The Norwegian government wants to make a single Marriage Act for heterosexual and homosexual couples. Read a little about it here. I couldn't find a better article in English, unfortunately. This article is more about how the Christian Democrats plan to fight this. Of course.

Going North

I'm at the moment applying for work (teaching and other stuff) in Trondheim, and in Finnmark, the northernmost county in Norway. One of the places I might end up is Nordkapp.

Honningsvåg

You can also see what's happening here LIVE. Oh look, there's a car! Endless excitement.

I am not the blogger you asked for

Been REALLY busy - applying for all kinds of work. I'll write about what happens soon! Also, I want to show you the photos from some of the places I want to work.

Patience.

I am not the lover you asked for

I AM NOT THE LOVER YOU ASKED
FOR, that remorse-light gaze
through the winter mirror of the city
light, or softer cries
muted year
by year

but like the darkness I yearn into you,
gather and
sink just as continuously as ill-timed.
As elaborate as
the difference between born and dead


----- Morten Øen (translated by David McDuff. From The Other Side of Landscape: An Anthology of Contemporary Nordic Poetry (2006).

Kosmorama

Kosmorama, Trondheim's international film festival, opens today! So far, we've decided to see these movies:

Delirious (USA 2006): Steve Buscemi plays paparazzo-in-denial Les Galantine. Somewhat reluctantly he agrees to let young Toby, (who dreams of being an actor) live in his closet. In return Toby takes on the role...

Supervoksen (Denmark 2006): Rebekka, Claudia and Sofie are 16 years old; they’re in high school and are tired of frequenting that no-man’s land between childhood and adulthood. When one day at school they have a lesson on rites of passage they decide to create their own... Also: read about Supervoksen on AfterEllen.

Goodbye Falkenberg (Sweden 2006): In this fascinating fusion of fiction and reality we follow five young men during the summer they leave their childhood behind. They swim, talk and get high. More of the story should not be given away, but the narrative style is sensational and nothing less than innovative...

Other movies that look interesting: Lina's Evening Book, Red Road, Half Nelson and loads of others. This is going to be fun!

Today, about two hours ago

The first photo is taken with girlfriend's mobile phone, the rest is mine. Her photo definately has better quality, mine are more blurry. On my wish list: Sony Ericsson K800i.

Easter photos

Easter: we stayed at home, but got a visit from good friends from Oslo and Bodø. Unfortunately, the weather was like this almost all easter:





Of course, with the right clothes, we COULD have been outside, playing in the snow. But our friends came to Trondheim from Oslo. In Oslo the weather had been sunny and warm, lovely spring weather. They brought spring clothes, not winter clothes.

So, most of the time, we stayed inside:



And played poker, ate good food, and had a little whisky. Which was totally fine by me:-)

The day after our friends left, we got this weather:



Typical, isn't it?

(All photos taken with my mobile phone camera.)

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'0 lovely Pussy! 0 Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
0 let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose!
With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand. on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

- - Edward Lear

Photo: Soul Dirty

Giggle

You might already know about Lizzie the Lezzie, but if you don't: go check it out!

A little gossip and work

I hope you all had a great Easter! Bani has got a new baby! And such a little sweetie, go and have a look.

The Easter holidays was relaxing, because we had to stay inside so much. I'll post a few pictures soon. After I've had the next lecture, before I get a new load of essays to correct. Sigh... Right now I seriously want a normal 8-16-job! That might happen (hopefully) quite soon. I bet after a couple of months or so I'll probably miss the job I have now, and start to reminisce about the "freedom" in this job, how I decide when to work - and in the process probably forget how many weekends and nights I've worked.

I'd like a job that is both fun and interesting while you're doing it, but not stressful - a job you don't think about at all when you're not working. I wonder if that is possible?

(The photo is snatched from here.)

Rehab

Let's All Go To Rehab!
A national detox might be just the thing. Can someone bring coffee? Like, Amy Winehouse?

Maybe France could perform the intervention. All crepes and unfiltered cigarettes and disapproving glares and intriguing bondage equipment and really excellent coffee. Not much joy, but they'd sure be effective.

Or maybe Canada. Oh yes, Canada. Canada could slip on down via a giant squadron of red-and-white minivans loaded with hockey sticks and forgiving smiles and ice-cold beer, and they could sneak into our messy apartments and wait for us to come home from another insane night of reckless irresponsible Americanism, and then wham, soon as we walk in the door they slam it shut and lock it and surround us and sit us right down and pour the coffee and let us scream and flail and panic and just wait for the tears to flow.

How good we will feel, when it's all over. How healthy and rejuvenated and right.

[...]

We certainly wouldn't be the first. Hell, rehab is the thing to do. Rehab is the new black. All the celebrities are doing it, from Britney to Lindsay to Courtney, from Nicole Richie to Charlie Sheen to Robert Downey Jr. (veritably, the rehab poster child), all ducking in and out of rehab like it was a freakin' Haagen Daaz outlet in the Sahara, like it was Paris Hilton's crotch and they were an active STD. What, too graphic? Hey, it's rehab. No one said it would be pretty.

...read the rest HERE. It's Mark Morford, of course.

That column made sure that the song "Rehab", by Amy Winehouse got etched into my brain again. Damn - I thought I had moved on to Back to Black!

Almost holiday

And I was kind of joking when I said in a comment that I'd post photos in April, then it turned out to be almost true! But - now I have corrected a load of essays, I have written the lecture I'm having in an hour, and I have started thinking about the next lecture. So no work this weekend! Just play and fun, and hopefully, as much sunshine as we've had during the week (when I've been stuck inside the office). And maybe it will be almost warm enough to sit outside, and look at people, and drink coffee?

"Bakklandet", a popular area in Trondheim. Not mine, stole it from this person.

Blogoversary!

Today this blog is two years old! I kind of forgot about it last year, probably because I was trying to finish a chapter for my master's thesis. So, what's happened in two years?

- I've made 92 posts (which is what other people write in three weeks)

- I've found some really cool people online! I wish I could invite you all for cake and whisky:-)

- I finished my master's thesis! Yay!

- I haven't got a proper job yet. Right now I'm part time lecturing at uni, but after June, who knows.

- I've gone swimming in winter! I meant to do it this year, too, but I've kind of kept postponing it... It's probably too late now, as it's technically spring. I mean, now it's sunny and a balmy + 3 degrees Celsius outside (37 degrees Fahrenheit)! So to go for a dip now is not proper winter swimming, the tough old ladies (who swim every week all year) would scoff.

- I've been to London, Croatia, and around Norway. This year we're thinking about Greece for the summer holidays, but we haven't decided yet. Any recommendations?

- I'm still with the lovely, lovely girlfriend! :-D She's been mentioned, or had the star role, in quite a few posts.

- I've learned to like whisky. I started out with Irish, but right now I'm drinking Scottish whisky most. Though I still really like Irish. Hmm, the bottom line is that I drink more whisky, I think.

- I still love poetry! And today is World Poetry Day! I'm proud to have my blogoversary on the same day.


Have you heard? Cold in Norway is two years old today!



Woo hoo! That's wonderful! Although I think HB should have posted a bit more often...



...and spent less time gazing at strange sculptures in Tromsø kulturhus.

O Tell Me The Truth About Love

Some say that love's a little boy,
And some say it's a bird,
Some say it makes the world go round,
And some say that's absurd,
And when I asked the man next-door,
Who looked as if he knew,
His wife got very cross indeed,
And said it wouldn't do.

Does it look like a pair of pajamas,
Or the ham in a temperance hotel?
Does it's odour remind one of llamas,
Or has it a comforting smell?
Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is,
Or soft as eiderdown fluff?
Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?
O tell me the truth about love.

Our history books refer to it
In cryptic little notes,
It's quite a common topic on
The Transatlantic boats;
I've found the subject mentioned in
Accounts of suicides,
And even seen it scribbled on
The backs of railway-guides.

Does it howl like a hungry Alsatian,
Or boom like a military band?
Could one give a first-rate imitation
On a saw or a Steinway Grand?
Is its singing at parties a riot?
Does it only like Classical stuff?
Will it stop when one wants to be quiet?
O tell me the truth about love.

I looked inside the summer-house;
it wasn't ever there:
I tried the Thames at Maidenhead,
And Brighton's bracing air.
I don't know what the blackbird sang,
Or what the tulip said;
But it wasn't in the chicken-run,
Or underneath the bed.

Can it pull extraordinary faces?
Is it usually sick on a swing?
Does it spend all it's time at the races,
Or fiddling with pieces of string?
Has it views of it's own about money?
Does it think Patriotism enough?
Are its stories vulgar but funny?
O tell me the truth about love.

When it comes, will it come without warning
Just as I'm picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my shoes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.

- - W.H. Auden

VisualDNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Got the idea/thingy from Gaymo. I have to say this is me today - tomorrow it would probably look different. I wish it was possible to pick several choices on these things. That would be more accurate, but I guess too complicated for an internet personality test.

Shower with a twist

The other day I was standing under the shower, enjoying the warm spray. My face was turned upwards, my eyes were closed, and the water was streaming down over my ears. So: I didn't hear that the bathroom door was opened. I didn't feel a cold draft as the glass doors to the shower carefully slid apart. In fact, I didn't sense a thing until I suddenly felt a hand grab one of my breasts.

I jumped and yelled like a boy. (Because I don't scream like a girl.) Then I lunged after my laughing girlfriend, who already was way beyond reach, of course.

HB: Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack??
Girlfriend: Sorry! I thought you heard that I opened the door?
HB (gritted teeth): Seriously - do you want me do die?!?
Girlfriend: Sorry, sweetie, I was sure that you heard me coming in. Sorry!

In MY opinion, true remorse isn't expressed while you are barely able to breath because you're laughing so hard. Somehow, those "sorrys" weren't very believable.

She loves to scare the shit out of me like that. Nine out of ten times I'm able to sense that she's up to something, so I turn suddenly, and there she is: lurking around the corner or creaping up behind me. With a HUGE grin on her face, anticipating all the fun she'll have in just a few seconds. It's kind of sweet. And when my heart rate is back to normal, I usually laugh about it, too. While pondering revenge.

Bloodrayne

I've seen Bloodrayne, so now you don't have to. You know how some movies are SO bad, that they're almost good? The stilted conversation in Bloodrayne made me think it had potential to be in that category, but in the end: this movie is just bad.

EVEN with Kristanna Loken and Michelle Rodriguez fighting underwater.

I'm blaming the director, Uwe Boll. This movie could have been a lot better, because there are some really good actors here. I hope they at least had fun while shooting it.

Rob Vaux has more to say:

"Boll, to put it mildly, doesn't know how to make films. And when I say that, I don't mean in a subjective, debatable way where the vagaries of opinion can be argued and discussed. I mean it's a quantifiable fact. Boll can't make films the same way cats can't drive and elephants can't fly. His efforts are exercises in abject incompetence, littering the screen with meaningless drivel filled by only the barest whiff of cohesion.
[...]
Into this mess steps Kristanna Loken, who plays the title character and who really deserves better. Loken has a genuine cinematic presence (she was last seen pounding the governor of California to snot in Terminator 3) and while she won't unseat Meryl Streep anytime soon, she could make a decent action heroine on par with her co-star Rodriguez. Her character is a dhampir, a half-human, half-vampire, all-inappropriately-tanned being who begins the film in a circus sideshow, but soon escapes and -- with the help of the vampire-hunting society Brimstone -- launches a quest for revenge against the evil Kagan (Ben Kingsley, who I really hope enjoys his check). It sounds simple, but the inexplicable convolutions and unnecessary character development render it formless mush. It's exacerbated by the mindless fight scenes, which demonstrate no understanding of pacing or choreography and are rendered with all the energy and gusto of a 50-year-old stripper grinding it out on the pole. Watching Loken struggle to assert herself in such dreck is actively painful."

Happy weekend

I want these T-shirts!

Poem

Lana Turner has collapsed!
I was trotting along and suddenly
it started raining and snowing
and you said it was hailing
but hailing hits you on the head
hard so it was really snowing and
raining and I was in such a hurry
to meet you but the traffic
was acting exactly like the sky
and suddenly I see a headline
LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!
there is no snow in Hollywood
there is no rain in California
I have been to lots of parties
and acted perfectly disgraceful
but I never actually collapsed
oh Lana Turner we love you get up

- - Frank O'Hara

Winterson and gay marriage

I always find something interesting when I go to Jeanette Winterson's web page. This time a column about gay marriage, written in 2002:

"For the first time in my life, I felt that there was genuine consensus in favour of a more equal and honest society, one where all our loves are treated with the dignity love deserves.

Yet, there is still a problem - or rather a moral debate, and it is an important one. What does marriage mean in the twenty first century? Does it deserve special status? Should marriage be reserved for heterosexuals? Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin rather charmingly calls them mixed-sex couples, as though neither party can be quite sure of their gender.

Of course, if same sex couples could marry, we would have none of this legislative difficulty, but it seems that while society is ready to end discrimination against gays, it is largely hostile to any proposals for gay marriage." Read the rest, it's not very long. And still valid!

Tea and lazy dog

The cold is gone, fortunately! I didn't get as pampered as I hoped, because girlfriend had a cold too. And she had to work. So it was more:

HB: A cup of tea would be lovely.
GF: I know. It's your turn.

or in the morning:

HB: A cup of tea would be great.
GF: Yes. I made the last cup last night, so..
HB: It's my turn. How about this - you make tea now, and then I can make tea two times in a row later today?
GF: No.
HB: Or I could start the kettle, and then YOU make the tea? Or...
GF: How about this - you get your ass out of bed and make tea NOW, instead of getting a pillow in your mouth?
HB: On my way.


Remember this dog:


The same dog in winter:




Actually, the last two photos are lying. The dog was tearing through the snow like a tornado - but my camera got too cold, so it didn't work! But I'm sure you can imagine it: dry, powdery snow and a dog with A LOT of energy :-)

Cold

It is cold (-16 degrees this morning), and I have a cold. I don't even want whisky - so I guess I'm REALLY ill;-) So, plans for the day:

- make a bum imprint on the sofa
- read lots of comic books
- drink lots of tea
- the moment I feel a little better, drink whisky. I'm sure it will help.
- see the Harry Potter-movies again
- sleep
- when my girlfriend is back from work: feel a little worse again, and certainly way to weak to make my own tea. Or get my own chocolate. Or change the dvd in the dvd-player.

A perfect Monday poem

The Word

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between "green thread"
and "broccoli" you find
that you have penciled "sunlight."

Resting on the page, the word
is as beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning -- to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue

but today you get a telegram,
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

- to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.

Tony Hoagland

Snow mobile trip

While visiting my girlfriend's parents, we borrowed my father-in-law's snow mobile, and went to the mountains. We drove in the middle of the day, so that we would have as much day light as possible.

Taking these photos, I started here:




.. and then I just turned 360 degrees - taking photos:











Coming back to where I started:



This ought to give you an idea about what the landscape a few hours away from Tromsø looks like in winter. And also how the winter daylight looks. I think it's absolutely beautiful. And breathtaking.

Sometimes literally breathtaking, because it's so cold! But I was certainly dressed for winter on that snow mobile trip:



This is girlfriend's photo, taken when we were almost back home again. Who wants to go for a swim?? :-)