So far I have been playing around with it, taking tons of pictures of Alina, and everything else around me. I also carry it with me everywhere I go, but lately I’ve been a bit too lazy to actually pick it up and snap some shots.

I did however bring it with me when Alina and I went to Lian to pick blueberries. We took the tram up there on Sunday and had a nice walk in the sun. It was quite warm and the air was so fresh and clean.
We were quite lucky on the berries and found several, but we got kind of bored of picking after a while and ended up with a bit over half a bowl. Hopefully it will be enough to make some jam at least. Here’s the pictures I took, and some turned out pretty good:

PS: Oh, and by the way, thanks to Andreas I now have the chance to log back into WoW again, as he sent me a guest pass! I’m not quite sure if I want to accept it though (all tough thanks for the thought Andy!), seeing as I feel I should have quit, and I would really miss mu characters allot….
I’ve yet to hear from Blizzard regarding my cause, but I hardly doubt they’ll give it a second trial to be honest.

The elk ran back and forth behind our neighbors house for a little while, trying to find a way to get out, before settling in one corner to catch it’s breath. At the same time a girl came out from one of the buildings, blissfully unaware of the huge animal lurking right around the corner. Thankfully for her sake it didn’t pop it’s mighty head out and frighten the wits out of the girl, but at the same time I kind of doubt she’d even notice. She seemed way to tired to be even aware of what was happening nearby.

After catching it’s breath for a second, the elk decided it was time to move on. So instead of going back from where it came, it jumped a 2 meters tall rusty old fence and continued behind our house and into the street on the other side.

I by then had managed to snap a couple of ok shots, which I decided I’d might as well send to the local newspaper, Adressa. Little did I know they would actually call me, and do a short interview. An excerpt of what I said can be found here. Safe to say it’s exaggerated quite allot… Anyway, when I came to work I continued to keep track on the news, checking what was going on with the elk. Turns out he had continued running, and ended up getting himself stuck in a fence. The police and animal authorities sadly had to take its life.
Oh, and they also called me from the radio, and had a short chat with me.

All in all, quite an interesting day I must say :p

I also captured a picture of the entire glass, but what mesmerized me most was the picture above.

Today I got up at around one, had a good long shower and fixed myself up for the evening to come. Mom had made rice porridge which is custom in our family and of course the almond was in place in a random bowl of porridge (well it was really a peanut, seeing as mom didn’t have any almonds, but who’s picky). And of course, after just two bites, it was mine! All mine :D And the reward, a marzipan pig and a scratch ticket. Sadly I didn’t win, but it was fun non the less.
After watching the obligatory Christmas movies, like the Disney Christmas, Tante Pose and of course the butler and the countess which is also a tradition to watch here in Norway., my grandfather shows up and it’s time for dinner.
As is tradition in our family, we have rib for Christmas, and rice pudding. However this year the rib wasn’t particularly good. It was way too much fat on it and was just sickening if you ate too much. The meaty parts were ok though, but I’d really wish it had been a bit better. Still, I ate until I couldn’t eat any more, so I guess it wasn’t that bad :p

After relaxing a bit, trying to get the rib to settle, it was of course time for the coffee and cakes. Man we eat allot on Christmas…..Anyway, after a few sips, my brother can’t stop nagging about opening presents, so my mom gives the go. He runs for the presents and starts throwing them to everyone as fast as possible.

I got quite allot of stuff actually, especially seeing as my age kind of makes people stop buying presents for me. Being old sucks…

Anyway, this is what I got for Christmas:
- 3000kr.
- A warm wool sweater.
- wool underwear.
- 007 – On her majesty’s secret service.
- A book called “Drageløperen” or “The Kite runner” in English.
- A couple of dvds my brother made with various shows on them.
- And the best present of the year in my opinion:

A very snazzy teapot with glasses :D

I also got a tea called “Høstflørt” (Fall flirt) with them. I’m sure Alina will love them as well, as she’s just as much a tea drinker as I am.

Now I’d just like to post a few pictures I’ve taken in order to properly give that Christmas feel.

This is our Christmas tree, for being the first time ever where I wasn’t the one cordinating the decorations on the Christmas tree, I think it turned out pretty good.

This is a bowl of nuts, go figure :p

And last, but not least, a crackling fire (all tough taken with a very slow shutter speed, so it looks kind of fancy and purple-like)

Tomorrow is the big drinking day here in Skien, so I’m going over to a friends house with around 13-14 people and will no doubt drink until I can’t see straight, then of course head out on town and drink some more. I am however not looking forward to walking home afterwards, but I’ll probably manage.
Hopefully I’ll have enough to drink on though, I’m getting some beers from my stepdad, but that’s it really. I’ll probably mooch a bit of my friends though, some vodka or something, so there will no doubt be enough intoxication ;)

Well, it’s due time for some sleeping now. Even though it’s just as late as it was yesterday. Man I sure hope I get my sleeping patterns adjusted by the time I’m heading back to Trondheim, otherwise I’ll have a hard time getting to work.

Good night, and Merry Christmas to you all!

However, I’d like to just write a bit about how my day with dad turned out. Now to be fair, I was rather nervous before meeting up with him at a bar in Porsgrunn. It’s been so long since I last saw him, and I didn’t quite know how he would be, or react to me wanting to meet up with him, after 2 years of no contact. However, it turned out very good I must say. We got along great, had a couple of beers and talked some more, and before we knew it, 2 hours had passed. And actually, we were even photographed by the local paper for a column called “På by’n”.

I was very happy that we had such a good time, and even more that my kid sister, Marie, really wanted to meet up with me after Christmas and spend the day together. Hopefully we’ll all have a bit better relationship from now on, and at least keep in touch now and then. It made me very happy, and I went home with a smile on my face that day.

As for today (or as some claim “yesterday”) there haven’t been much going on. Most of my day I’ve spent at home keeping the fire burning and watching more Heroes. I’m almost done with the season and it pains me to think there’s no more until the next season starts airing. I am however looking forward to it with great pleasure.
I have also managed to get a proper upload system up and running. One that enables me to upload and share files quickly, either by link or email, and it also keeps track on how many downloads each file has had. And a very crude and simple script that gives a more graphic representation of how long the upload takes, how fast it’s going and how much there is left. Both will be available at my dump site shortly. If anyone require a place to quickly upload a file and share it among friends, don’t be afraid to use it. The site is pruned regularly and storage space is not an issue.

I also managed to take a couple of pictures of the incredible winter we’re having down here. It’s simply mesmerizing to go outside and see all the snow crystals covering everything.

And just as a small tidbit at the end. I highly recommend you go check out JibJab.com. It’s a page where you put yourself into movie clips. I had a great time and laughed myself silly watching my friends jumping around :D

And just so it’s been said, yes I miss Alina an awfully lot. We call every day several times a day, and proclaim our longing for each other. I can hardly wait to get back up there and meet her yet again. I love you darling! <3

And I just realized I wrote this post in quite an “posh” type of style. I do believe the narrator in Heroes is affecting me….. a show of which I’m really enjoying these long nights. I have seen about 5 episodes of season 2 now, and it’s really catching up. I wish I could see everything in one stretch, but then sleep would be out of the question, and I do want to at least see sunshine now and then.

Which reminds me, I really wanted to go out and take some pictures today. There was a mist laying low across Skien today,and every leave, branch and tree was covered in snow crystals, so everything was like a gigantic fairyland. I did however not get out until dusk, and by then there was not much to take pictures of. I do however hope that it will be just as pretty tomorrow, and maybe I’ll get some good shots. I bought this thing for my camera today see, that holds my camera steady, so I might get some really crisp shots.

Now however, I think I should go to bed. I’m starting to get pretty tired and I’m rambling on too much about non-essential information. Ta ta!

The biggest and brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen! Spanning across town from one side to the other. Sky was very bright and it was just a slight drizzle of rain passing me. I was really in a terrible rush to reach work (which turned out was half an hour later then i thought…), but i couldn’t pass the opportunity to do photography of this rare event.

Here’s one across the park I’m passing on my way to work:

I also figured I should try to get a panorama picture of this, seeing as my camera really can’t capture the whole thing in ONE frame, so i took 3 pictures just to get it all put together, ran it trough an GNU/Linux program called Hugin and managed to get a rather decent result:

I also captured one with a bit of zoom:

And one from the view above bakklandet, just as it was about to disappear. Managed to get a nice shot as the rainbow dives into some clouds there:

Summary: Me and Alina walked from my place to their place in the blistering cold and rain for about 1 1/2 hour, then after franticly looking for where their house were, Stian called (with Kenneths phone) asking where we were, seeing as it started to get pretty late.
After finally finding their house, we joined the party. Some were pretty drunk already, while others were more or less sober. After getting our costumes on, we mingled with people, talked and had an really great time. After a while, more people showed up, and then even more! Safe to say, the place was pretty packed with people when the clock started ticking towards twelve.
After some drinking, fooling around, people jumping each other and generally being fun drunks, it was time to move out on town.
We walked with Julian and Stacy for some time, but ended up going with Gaute (Which wore a blond wig and a big sign saying IKEA), and had a quick visit by Sesam for a burger, before moving onward into town. The destination of the night, Mikrobryggeriet, of course :p
Sadly, the place was totally packed, and we couldn’t get a seat anywhere, so after standing around a bit, we decided we could might as well head home. None of us were really interested in staying for much longer, and we were all getting pretty tired.
Me and Alina then head home, made some chips and watched an episode of Red Dwarf before we decided we were sober enough to go to bed.

The pictures i took from the party has now been uploaded to http://www.jumpingmushroom.com/gallery/ for those that might be interested.
All albums from the Alphabet parties are restricted to members only, so if you attended the party, and would like access to those pictures, register an account and I will accept it if I feel you’re worthy.
Also, if anyone took pictures they would like to upload to the gallery. Don’t be afraid to do so, all registered users have the rights to upload pictures directly into the albums of the alphabet parties! (all tough I will be the one screening the pictures before they get published;) ).

Oh, and one more thing. As i was walking to town just the other day, i stumbled upon this rare scene, which i just had to capture on memory card:

I must say, I’m very pleased with the picture. It turned out very crisp and clear, and the colours are very vibrant and alive. I must admit, it wasn’t as clear and colourful as this when i took it, but i used the vivid filter on my camera which made it allot prettier.

Yesterday i spent watching Knocked up (2006) which wasn’t really all it was cranked up to be. I mean, it’s got an 8.0 rating on imdb, and still i think it sucked pretty bad. I mean, it had its moments, but most of the time it was just a bunch of drama and clichés. Guess you can’t believe the ratings at imdb blindly all the time.

Oh yeah, Alina coloured her hair on Wednesday, and i must say, it ended up looking really awesome, it ended up being kind of copper/red-ish so it looks just stunning in the sunlight. The picture on the left i took when we were heading into town just after she had coloured it. (I must admit, i had the vivid colour mode turned on on my camera as well, but that ended up making the colours even more vibrant and warm.) I might consider colouring my hair as well now, all tough it will probably just end up being some dark shade of blue/brown or whatnot. Bright hair really won’t work on me, i think :]

As for my job hunt, nothing. It seems like my applications just end up in a black hole somewhere, and never return. All though i did get one reply the other day, but of course it said “Unfortunately we didn’t end up picking you”, which always sucks.
Anyway, i will probably get some more replies of the same character soon, so no need being all sad and depressed about it. Today I’ll probably get some more applications sent and bother some temp agencies again, but I’m really starting to think the temp agencies don’t give two cents about my interest in a job. I think they’re just happy they can sit around in their offices and say that they have a job themselves, and randomly mock the people visiting them behind their backs.