A visit from a friend.

Boogie.

I'm a crap dancer. I've got no moves. Nevertheless, sometimes when I find myself dancing, I pull myself back from the situation and analye the dancing of others. Usually I come to the conclusion that, yes, they simply have more rhythm than me.

But there was a time back in the late 90's when I wold occasionally see dancing which made even mine look acceptable. Just exactly what were these people trying to do? I have finally found a website which explains it all here.

Nordic quirkiness.

My, my, it's 5 in the morning and I'm wide awake. There's no real reason for it, I'm just not really in the mood to sleep. I think that that's the sign of living in a place where we have too much money, too much stuff, and too much free time. We begin to think a lot about things that don't really matter that much. I actually caught myself thinking that I should really get on with filling in the cracks between the hardwood planks in the kitchen. I probably dwelled upon this subject of thought for about 10 or 15 minutes. If that's not a luxury problem then I don't know what is.
We've been having a good time visiting with U. from Vancouver. We went for a short relaxing walk, which Kari called "mountaineering". The woods up above Oslo are really nice. People take real pride in preserving them in pristine condition. Take the bus 5 minutes down the road into Oslo and every little park you see is full of trash and, especially, overflowing garbage cans...

The day passes quietly...

and as night is upon me I realize that this is only one of so many little quirks about the Norwegians. Toss a plastic bag full of picnic waste onto a huge trash heap beside the local playground and nobody cares, but accidentally drop your orange peel on the ground in marka (the woods) and outdoorsey women with baskets full of mushrooms will bat you over the head with those all year round ski pole thingys that they go for walks with. Rather a double standard, and definitely qualifying as nordic quirkiness.

How to get things done.

Here's how to get things done.

I Love Tropical Fruit

I love to share music with people, often long after they have grown tired of it. In that fine tradition I would like to take the opportunity to blather on a bit about Rhythm and Sound which I have liked for quite a while. This is the kind of stuff with bass that jiggles your internal organs around. This is the kind of stuff that conjures up images of smokey rooms, incense, dreadlocks, and the various stages of "le chill out". "Mango Drive" (hence my tropical fruit theme!) is the kind of song which sneaks up on you - it seems so mellow at first but by the end it has a much harder edge, and a real dark side.
My abiding memory of ths song is playing it to a bunch of people at the beginning of a party where everyone was kind of milling around talking. The music was not loud and no one really payed any attention when the song came on, but after a while everyone was moving just a little bit in time to the music. So much fun.

Otherwise, ere's some more stream of consciousness:

• A quick message from the Snoemus: Remember to empty your pockets before you put clothes in the washing machine!

• If you haven't checked out Pandora yet, you should. Best internet radio going.

• Found this picture on the net, from the Canary Islands. The caption read: "An exhausted immigrant crawls ashore while tourists look on. Islanders are increasingly worried about the immigrants' effect on tourism and the spread of disease." Scary stuff - when did everyone stop giving a shit?

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• If you get that funny feeling like someone is watching you, it's probably because agent Fox Mulder turns 46 today.

Trans Atlantic

I'm sitting on my sofa, jet-lagged, and my mac book just keeps getting hotter and hotter. Apparently this is normal, but I can't help feeling that I've turned a corner with the purchase of this dark powerhouse of a computer. Things are getting hot in the kitchen, and a blog is a sure fire way for both me and this machine to blow off some steam. Now that I think of it, this computer really needs a name. Back in the Fonzarelli 70's people named their cars. Now it's time to name our computers. The name for this one has to be something really HOT, 'cause you could cook an egg on this thing.
So what do I have to tell you? We were back in Canada recently and it was great. Started off with a family campout.



Next was Soundwave, featuring extreme bocce.



Even managed to squish in some rock climbing. (It isn't me in the picture by the way - I can only dream of being that good!)



Generally, a fun time was had, and now here I am back in a cold land with a hot mac. Friends really are wonderful things, even when they're a long way away. So now that I've reconnected with all of these wonderful people, I've decided that BLOGGING is a good way to stay in touch and to share some of my quirkiness with you all from afar. So here goes:

• check out a bizarre website. Take your time...

• My oldest friend (he could almost be qualified as a geezer he's so old) pointed something out to me and it really got me thinking. Dr. Hook strikes me as more than a little bit paranoid. Take "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" for example. Check out these lyrics. Looking over your shoulder, or, um, HER shoulder is no way to live.

• For all of you Star Wars geeks, check out Bespin. J., this means you.