I've had a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong (well, maybe not that long) holiday since the beginning of September, and have enjoyed myself immensely. During this time I hardly ventured online at all. I didn't even check my Facebook account! Wow!

'So what on earth did you do, Ingaroo?', I can hear you saying. Well, a couple of things.

Spore arrived one day early, so I was stuck in Spore-land for four consecutive days until I tired of it (as I by then had realised that the Spore universe is far from endless...twice). If anyone want a copy of Spore, let me know. The replayability is nothing near Will Wright's other successes; Sim City and The Sims. In fact, Spore is rather limited. But it did inspire me to get back to playing Galactic Civilizations II again, which in itself is a good thing.

Other than that, I have sorted my vast Whose Line collection properly, I have watched Braveheart and Gladiator and all of the James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan (AKA "The Last Real James Bond"), I have started watching Michael Palin's Full Circle for the second time and Against the Wind for the third, I have finished reading just one book (Jack Railton's The A-Z of Cool Computer Games), and I have not left the flat for a whole week. Amazing.

OK, two things:

1. The new Lost in Austen series is fabulous. And, as per usual, Hugh Bonneville is stealing all the scenes (mostly the ones he's in, but a few where he's not present also). After three years of reading RadioTimes I have concluded that editor Alison Graham and I have very, very little in common. She just about hates everything I love, and vice versa.
2. Bonne chance to Sue Perkins for tonight's Last Night of the Proms (well, the Hyde Park bit) - I followed Maestro and am certain it was my votes that gave her the victory. Then again, could be that most people agreed with me that she was the best of the wannabe conductors. Nice concept, by the way. Plus interesting to see Clive Anderson's hair again, since I normally just listen to him on the radio these days (a million repeats of Whose Line from the nineties don't count). Anyway, Prom 76 it is, and it has both Bryn Terfel and Hélène Grimaud in it, yay!

Labels: comedy, film, gaming, holiday, literature, music, personal

My birthday was celebrated downtown at an Italian restaurant (which we will probably not return to) for dinner and Garfunkel's for dessert and coffee before sauntering across the road to the Trafalgar Studios in order to see Lee Evans and (especially) Jason Isaacs in The Dumb Waiter. The one-act-play (by Harold Pinter) was very well performed. We had a laugh before the play when someone suddenly said "shh!" and people stopped chatting, expecting the two actors (who had already been on stage for quite a while) to stir and start the play, only causing the usher to begin laughing. The play didn't start for another five minutes or so.

Then we went home and I entered my room to start packing for my trip the next morning. Or I would have entered my room, if it hadn't been filled with 100 balloons. The perpetrator had to spend the next 45 minutes helping me moving them into the sitting room. It was fun, though.

Thursday was a day of waiting and travelling, basically. I eventually landed on my parents' doorstep and got to meet the new member of their family, the long-haired dachshund who had managed to turn nine months by the time I visited them. He was as ecstatic about my arrival as of seeing me every day for the next four days. Incredibly happy all the time. The other dog was also very happy to see me (he was the only one who actually knew who I was--of course, my parents know me too) but was a bit more dignified and didn't try to nibble my heels every time I went somewhere.

On Friday I got to see the town's brand new shopping centre (well, extension to the old one, that is), and it had grown to a rather amazing size, at least compared to other Norwegian shopping centres. Finally found some sheets and linen for my bed. Impossible to do that here. No DVD's of the Seks som oss series, though, so I will have to buy them online later and ship them via people in Norway. My aunt and uncle came for a visit during the evening and watched telly with us. Which was nice.

Saturday was brilliant in that I visited Oslo, which was nice, cold and smaller than I remembered, and finally met up with Torill for the first time in almost two years. We went to our...uhmm..."favourite" cafe, which had not changed much. The service was crap, the coffee was lukewarm, the furniture questionable. But hey, many a good idea has been produced there, usually followed by an even better plan. We then went on to have pizza at Peppe's Pizza, and I am pretty sure that was my last meal there. I swear they must have forgotten our pizza, because it was delivered only a couple of minutes before the pizza for the people on the table behind us, who ordered 30 minutes after us. It took them more than an hour to actually come up with the pizza, and it was barely warm by the time it arrived. We ate it, paid for it and left them an extra 5p, more as an insult than anything else.

The rest of the evening was spent at the Oslo Nye theatre, and I must say it feels good to mention that theatre again. Hopefully I will be able to re-visit it within a year or so. I went to see Fiddler on the Roof, which has very deservedly received much praise. I was a bit scared it would drag on forever--even though I secretly wanted it to--as I had a train to catch, but after three hours the curtain was lowered and we all had to leave. I was thrilled all the way through, but especially pleased to discover that Anders Hatlo and Dennis Storhøi had a long scene together. Just do a search for "La Cage" on my blog and your memory will be refreshed.

After that highlight of my trip, Sunday was a bit of a let-down at first, but then I got out of bed and went to visit my grandmother and later to my aunt and uncle for a family gathering of sorts. We spent some hours there chatting and drinking lots of coffee (only after two hours my aunt told me it was caffeine-free and I almost fell asleep that instant). And watching telly. I re-watched an episode of a documentary they showed on BBC1 a few months ago.

Monday was supposed to be another highlight of my trip, but as I woke up with a sore throat and didn't want to risk giving anyone a nice cold, I stayed at home and chatted with my mum instead, until it was time to go shopping for sweets and crisps (yes, I actually go to Norway to get proper snacks) and then have a lovely meal (fish, naturally, we were in Norway, after all) before another large number of hours waiting and travelling.

I was as secure as can be on my way to Norway, as they did everything but a full cavity search on me and my stuff, but on my way back they were a bit more relaxed. One funny thing happened, though, apart from the flamenco dancers sitting next to me in the departure lounge--as I went through the passport check, one of the police officers recognised my middle name and asked me if I was related to a certain someone who happens to be my mum's cousin and the local police commissioner. When I said yes, they both smiled and told me to say hi. It's a bit more chummy when you're a local, for some reason.

The best thing about the trip was that I was kept so busy I didn't even think about the computer games waiting for me at home.

One day I am going to earn enough money to afford going by British Airways instead of the low-price companies.

Labels: anders hatlo, animals, dennis storhøi, holiday, jason isaacs, musicals, Norway, theatre

So another party at the neighbours'...well, "another" is pushing it, as we've only been there once before, which was just about a year ago. Very nice, though, although I wasn't nearly drunk enough to get to know a lot of people. Yes, it's sad, I know, that I feel I have to drink to talk to people. Luckily I usually opt for the "let's not get to know a bunch of new people, then", so I'm not heading towards total alcoholism yet.

We did have some very interesting discussions. About the age of consent, about the Nintendo Wii, about who really managed to fight the Germans during the War (sorry to bring that up once again, to my German friends, but after all we haven't quite forgotten), about the Queen's speech and about what vaginas taste like. Which reminded me why I stay away from gay bars--some of the stereotypical lesbians are driving me insane, seriously, and I feel like I don't have anything in common with them apart from the obvious (and the fact that I look like one, oops--I was watching this programme the other day where they interviewed a gay girl who looked just like me and properly butch, haha). Fun to talk to at parties, but I'm usually looking for a bit more interesting conversation than that.

Well, my three weeks of holiday are nearly over and I have to go back to work in a few days' time. I haven't written as much as I'd hoped to (unfortunately my love for computer games and sleeping got in the way of that), but at least I am now officially about a fifth of a novelist. ;-)

Labels: holiday, party, personal, writing

I am currently enjoying three weeks off from work. I mean thoroughly enjoying them. I'm spending the days writing (it's National Novel Writing Month after all) and so far, even though I'm three chapters into the book, I haven't killed off any characters yet. This is a miracle to anyone who's read all my previous work. Still, that could change with subsequent rewrites...yes, another miracle to those who've read my previous work. I am going to rewrite sections of my book? But isn't that sacrilegious? Well, one has to conform to some degree--and also realise that perhaps one isn't such a big genius one can just churn out one perfect first draft after another.

Who am I kidding--of course I am that genius, just pulling your leg. ;-)

So The Sound of Music has opened to raving reviews (and they're raving in a very positive way), which is very nice. I saw one excerpt on last Friday's Children in Need and it looked like they may get it together soon. There was also an excerpt from Evita; luckily my favourite sequence from the show, because absolutely none of my favourites were present (they were probably at home, sleeping, because they're all so bloody old), so watching the excruciatingly ridiculous show for six hours paid off to a certain degree. Luckily my flatmate decided to join me this year as well, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. So we were sitting there, or rather lying there, commenting upon everything that happened on the screen. I don't know how they do it, honestly. I mean, they've been doing the charity show for 26 years (I think it is) and still haven't put together a good routine for the live transmission. And of course what they call "celebrities" are usually wannabe-celebs from so far down the wish list the hosts could as well have done all the stunts themselves. That would have been more entertaining. Or perhaps the programme is meant only for those who read the tabloids and watch the soaps? Still, some good music (the usual six bands who turn up for every UK charity event) and I finally got to see bits of both Avenue Q and Wicked, two of my favourite Broadway shows from recent years, based solely on their original recording albums.

Speaking of musicals...for a change...it has occured to me that I may have a thing for Javert (seriously, if you don't know who Javert is, there really is no point in your reading my blog). I discovered two of my favourites* when they performed as Javert, and then three of my other favourites** turn out to have played Javert at some point. So basically I should stay away from any performance or film of Les Misérables in the future, otherwise I'm sure the list will grow. :-)

We discovered a lovely Indian restaurant down the road from us last week. Very nice. Low prices. Good food. Fine atmosphere. And my flatmate was delighted to see it was possible to smoke at the table. We will most probably go back soon.

But right now I've had enough procrastination for one day, I think. I have a few characters to kill off before lunch, after all, so I'd better start writing. Need to be a good girl today, or I won't be allowed (by myself) to go to the cinema or play the newly released Neverwinter Nights 2 (woo-hoo, a whole new world for my beloved Timon Siger to play in).

*) (drum roll) Philip Quast and Michael McCarthy (shock)
**) Geoffrey Rush, Roger Allam, Tim Morgan

Labels: evita, food, gaming, geoffrey rush, holiday, Javert, Michael McCarthy, musicals, philip quast, roger allam, theatre, tim morgan, TV, writing

This Christmas has been a nice one (so far). Since my parents were mainly done with all the decorating and cleaning and dusting and food making and shopping and all that by the time I got there on "little Christmas Eve", we had a very nice evening filled with...well, telly, really. There was a fair bit of slagging the singing and decorating and food making going on on telly. Fun was had by all. Finally got to see the Swedish version of Chess. Absolutely stunning.

Christmas Eve was very nice indeed; excellent food and drink all around, nice cup of coffee afterwards, then the presents (handed out by me as usual - not quite sure when it all turned and I had to do all the Father Christmas things) at around eight or nine in the evening (starting later every year), and finally chatting till past midnight. Lots of sparkly things flying about all evening and well into Christmas Day, as someone in the family had bought sparkly wrapping paper. Oh, well.

On Christmas Day I got up past noon (!) and we got around to having breakfast at around one thirty. Snow had fallen during the night (so much for a green Christmas for once) and my father had gone outside to plow the surrounding street as well as our garden (back and front). Eventually persuaded them to watch Love Actually with me (didn't have to work too hard; my mother noticed Colin Firth's name on the cover of the DVD and said "press play!"). We then went to this year's family get-together, which was very nice indeed; some of those people I hadn't seen for three or four years.

Boxing Day was spent watching films and helping my mother ordering some books from Amazon, as well as trying to out-do each other in laziness. Ended up watching three films. In the midst of everything the tragic earthquake and following tsunami in Asia caught our attention and so the rest of the evening was spent watching the news.

Got back home yesterday. The train was actually full by the time we reached Oslo. I sprang home to a highly anticipated event, indeed the highlight of this Christmas, namely a truly yummy Philip Quast appearing in this year's Midsomer Murders Christmas special (which was actually shown in Australia a few months ago). There couldn't have been a better way to celebrate Christmas than with a nice, wholesome murder and a gorgeous Aussie on telly. And to top it off, lots of Christmas specials of my favourite shows: The Vicar of Dibley, AbFab (with a brilliant Nathan Lane this year), Q.I., Dead Ringers, The Kumars at No. 42, My Family and a bit of Outtake TV (unfortunately not with Paul O'Grady any longer) as well as a one-off comedy starring lots of the current comedy stars of Britain; The Flint Street Nativity. I am overwhelmed.

AND I've got chocolate!

Current track: Howard Goodall - The theme for Q.I.

Labels: Christmas, comedy, current affairs, film, food, holiday, musicals, philip quast, TV

Actually, I'm going to go a bit further back in time, to the eighties. What brought this on, I hear you mumbling. Well, last night I watched this BBC programme from 1985 in which they talked about personal computers (or "micros", as they appear to have been calling them at one point in time) and mobile technology. First of all, the mobile phone they were talking about was the brand new cellular technology (ring any bells? LOL!) that had just arrived from the US. New York already had 10,000 subscribers to the network after only six months of availability. The UK was planning on making the network available to 90% of the UK mainland. :D And the phone they were showing was "without a cord, honest!" and really handy (in a suitcase kind of way). I nearly fell off my chair laughing. But the funniest part was when they talked about the BBS (bulletin board system, anyone familiar with computers from the seventies and eighties know what these were, the rest should watch Wargames, which is a brilliant contemporary film about computers - I never tire of it); BBC had its own BBS which had had so many visitors during the previous month that it had collapsed, but now they'd installed "a brand new 15 megabyte harddrive system" and everything should work like a dream.

Anyway, the computers they were talking about (and showing (off)) were one of the Spectrum (Speccy) machines (that year's bestseller), the Commodore 64 (C64) (that year's runner-up), the BBC Micro B and one of the Atari machines (the 800, I presume). I've been fiddling around with emulators ever since I realised they existed back in 199x, simply because I love all that older technology. Also, there are programs and games for these old systems that you can't find anywhere else anymore. One of my all-time favourite games is one for the C64 and is a pinball game (Magic Pinball). Due to the fact that the C64 only had a 320x200 maximum graphical mode, there was a very limited number of sprites (graphical icon or figure, basically) allowed on screen at any time. That also meant that the ball could only follow certain patterns every time, and after a short while of practice you would know exactly where to hit the ball in order for it to go where you wanted it to.

I am, however, looking for a game for the Commodore 16/Plus 4. It was a text adventure game and the only thing I remember about it was that there was a rope featured at the very beginning. I played this when I went to a summer course in England in '89 and have never seen it since (especially since I never owned one of those machines; I went straight to the Amiga 500). Doesn't really matter that much, I just find myself remembering it now and then. We stayed at a school which was closed for the summer, and they had a computer lab there with about...ooh, I'd say roughly three and a half machines. ;-) Three of us sneaked around to the other rooms and gathered power supplies (I remember scaring one of the maids that way once, as I was hiding behind a door, clutching the power supply and pretending not to be doing anything wrong) before firing up one of the Commodore 16's they had there. We didn't actually do anything with the computers, because they had very few games and we didn't really know enough English to play around with the programs (thankfully).

Another game I've played a lot is Tracksuit Manager, on the C64. It's possibly the coolest sports management sim ever, and believe me, I love the (first four, full) Championship Manager games! It's just very simple and easy to learn and it's basically about winning. I know CM has got so much more to offer in way of micromanagement, that's why I love it, but still, TM is lots of fun.

Oops, just remembered I have to watch the last two episodes of Himalaya (eith Michael Palin) tonight, before lending it to my parents over Christmas. Guess that means I've got to go.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: computers, history, holiday, michael palin, technology, TV

Here's Ivan at two years old (approximately). As you can see, he's not too fond of sleeping alone in the dark. He has changed, though, and this is what he looks like now, when he's off to his part-time job as a manager at the local fast food restaurant (notice that he's grown a beard, something he's very proud of finally being able to do):


I'm talking about The Sims 2, of course, which I finally got hold of...uhmm...well, "finally" as in "it was finally released", because I did buy it the day it was released, after all. In London, so I didn't get to play it until about one and a half days later. Have been playing it quite a lot since then and is often found cursing at my computer because the graphics are so rubbish due to my "old" graphics card being two years old (and strangely enough still considered to be among "the pricy cards" - don't ask me why). But hey, it's still a great game (buying a better computer would help, though, but that's not going to happen anytime soon) and I've gone very late to bed all week. Too bad I've got a couple of papers to do this weekend, because I'd like for Ivan to grow up and get married and have kids so I get to fully test that DNA thing they've implemented this time around.

By the way, I'm 95% sure I spotted David Bradley (plays Filch in the Harry Potter films, and the very nasty concierge in one of my favourite films - Left Luggage/Twee koffers vol) in the lobby at the NT on Saturday. It's probably not that interesting to you, until I remind you of my ongoing study of "my probability of spotting a celebrity whenever I go downtown" - and I'd definitely categorise the South Bank as "downtown", even though it isn't Oslo.

Current track: No Doubt - Just a Girl

Labels: gaming, holiday, name-dropping

I don't know if you realise this, but London is sort of...crowded. Especially Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus - mad tourists on a shopping spree. I usually avoid Oxford Street, but on Friday I had too much time on my hands and went window shopping...or rather, looking for a cheap copy of The Sims 2; I'll get back to that later. Anyway, I'm the kind of person who just cannot stroll. It's physically impossible for me, it seems, to walk any slower than 5 mph. *winks* So trying to go down Oxford Street is a bit of a test and I frequently nearly bump into people. This allows for the usage of the number one favourite word of any Englishman, namely "sorry". Constantly. This is perfectly acceptable to me; I'd do it at home if it were as crowded and we actually did bump into each other on the streets of Oslo, it's just what I'd call good behaviour. However, I am usually surprised at the situations in which an Englishman would apologise for his behaviour. This time it was a lady sitting next to me on the Heathrow Express on the way to Paddington: She sneezed, something I would call a perfectly natural occurence that can't be helped, and immediately said "I'm sorry" - to no one in particular, really. I was so baffled I forgot to say "bless you". It's not like that's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me or anything remotely close to that, it's just that I didn't think it necessary to apologise for something like that.

Other than that, I'm sure I've got English genes in me. :-)

Current track: Queen - Seven Seas of Rhye

Labels: holiday, linguistics

When I arrived at the hotel, four hours before check-in, the concierge asked me if I would rather have one of their apartments instead of the tiny room I was supposed to have. Same price, breakfast still included. Let's see...uhmm...I was frantically trying to see what the catch could possibly be, but couldn't find any and so accepted.

The apartment had a sitting room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. It was not the same standard as the rest of the hotel (I've stayed there a few times before), though. The loo was...interesting. I'm usually good at understanding how foreign toilets work, but this one was in a league of its own. The handle didn't quite work as it should. The shower didn't work, either, but luckily there was a bath. The kitchen counters may have been wiped a few times, but they probably hadn't been clean since they were installed. Nice.

Coming from Norway, I'm used to double and triple glazing, but the double glazing at this place was a bit of a disappointment, to say the least. The windows were all facing a very busy high street and it sounded like they were constantly open. Thus the earplugs. Not that I'm not used to wearing those back home. :-(

Make no mistake, I was happy to stay there and the state of the room didn't affect me much at all; I would definitely go back to stay there the next time I visit. I especially liked the kitchen and the fact that I didn't have to hand in my key all the bloody time.

Current track: Anne Grete Preus - Fryd

Labels: holiday

I couldn't go any longer without telling you about the shows I saw while over there. Now, for me the point of going to London is more often than not to see a show or preferably several. The strategy is to cramp as many shows into as short a stay as possible. It's not that I don't like being in London itself, but after a short while I'm getting tired of having my nostrils blackened. *grins* I only managed three performances of two shows in the three days I was there, but they were incredibly good.

First off, Thursday's evening performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - this Sondheim musical has been a favourite of mine since I heard Nathan Lane was in the latest Broadway rendition of it; I didn't hear the music until last year, however, when I happened upon an imported recording in some shop in London. Comedy Tonight is a great intro to a great musical. This new London version, played at the National, was fabulous and when it finished (I can't really say "as the curtain went down", as there was no curtain) I was really sad because I wanted to see it again. A few seconds later I remembered I had a ticket for the Saturday matinée as well. Duh.

I was afraid I was going to be very biased when it came to Forum, as the only reason why I left for London this time (just like last time, ahem) was that I knew Philip Quast was appearing in it, as Miles Gloriosus. And appear he did indeed - being about 6'2 he certainly makes quite a visual impact on stage, especially when considering he was wearing a Roman soldier uniform (that means bare legs, people). That's why Saturday's performance was a let-down when his role was played by...uhmm...someone else (I'm terribly sorry, but I have no idea who he was; I was mainly angry with him for not singing one of the songs as good as I wanted him to - but I guess it's near impossible to top or even match Quast). Nevertheless, the play has got some very talented and experienced actors aboard. Vince Leigh is really convincing as the more or less ditsy Hero who has fallen in love with the stereotypical dumb blonde Philia (Caroline Sheen, with a hilarious, Welsh accent). His father is played by Sam Kelly (known to most TV viewers all over Europe for playing Hans Geering in the (brilliant) comedy show 'Allo 'allo for four series during the eighties) and his parents' slave Hysterium is played by Hamish McColl - if I could, I would have rolled around on the floor laughing, but taking the stiff upper lip stance all I could allow myself was a few heartily laughs and a lot of applauding to express my feelings. The Proteans are all (six of them) great to watch; they really did a lot of work and must be awfully fit by the end of the run. David Schneider (should be known to hardcore britcom fans) is a very witty Lycus (who, basically, is a pimp), and last but definitely not least, Desmond Barrit is a very entertaining Pseudolus, "slave to the son"; he has a lot of very funny lines that manage to bring the story forwards. Mind you, some of the "slip-ups" were rehearsed; I'm not very fond of that. If the actors fuck up it'd damn well be real. *winks and pardons her French* All in all, seeing the show a second time was worth it even though Quast wasn't in it, although he is in a league of his own compared to most people the rest of the ensemble when it comes to singing. I don't think I'm too biased on that point. But hey, it's more of a farce than a bona fide musical, so it works very well.

The other show I saw was Les Misérables - this is the musical that got me hooked on theatre (strangely enough), but I've never seen the stage version until now. I was very pleased to spot Michael McCarthy's name on the cast list for that evening, because I was fortunate enough to see him perform as Inspector Javert here a few years ago and that was a crucial show for my fascination with theatre (which is silly, coming to think of it, since it was the concert version). I bought his (two) albums and have listened to them a lot since then. I had no idea how good he was, though. I wanted to say "wow!" on several occasions during the performance, because if I'm not very mistaken he has definitely grown (if not physically, at least vocally) since I last heard him. Philip Quast has always been the ultimate Javert to me, but I must say McCarthy did his best to match that! I was very impressed - perhaps he's got to where his voice has finally matured, because some of his earlier work was a bit too "weak", his voice just wasn't powerful enough for some of the songs he sang. Just remember I'm a mere admirer and don't know anything but what I hear with my own ears (bit hard to hear through someone else's, really) (does anyone of you think of Robin Hood: Men in Tights right now?); I have said this before: I'm a rubbish critic because I generally like the shows I see. Or perhaps I've just got a good hunch when it comes to picking the right shows?

If anyone of you happens to find yourself in London between now and November 2, I'd definitely recommend visiting the Olivier in order to see Forum. I'd throw in Les Mis there, too, as you never know when they'll just stop the show (look at what happened to Cats).

Why "Free" as the post's title, you say? Because I had that song on my mind for six hours yesterday, all the way from the theatre to my flat. It was driving me mad. I didn't feel free at all!

Current track: David Bowie & Pet Shop Boys - Hallo Spaceboy

Labels: comedy, holiday, Javert, Michael McCarthy, musicals, name-dropping, philip quast, theatre

As a tourist in London, you are probably bound to use the tube quite a lot. As I'm kind of past the "tourist" stage (a few visits back, I'd say), I've developed into one of those who should start to know their way around the LU (London Underground). However, there is this small problem in the way - I'm sort of rubbish at orienting myself. (Whether it be towards the east or not *winks*) Mix that with the usual stubborn determination I have to seem like a veteran Londoner (falls through every time, believe me - I have no clue as to where or even who I am at the end of the day) (ooh, reminds me of Les Mis) and I often get lost when trying to find my bearings. I choose the wrong exit most of the time (Piccadilly Circus is fun) but it has brought me to some interesting places I would have missed otherwise. Also, I've got the time of the world when I'm visiting London - I usually just pass time until the next show.

There are other things about the tube as well. They're called passengers. Some of them are weird. Quite a lot, if not most, in the Central London area are tourists. They look as bewildered as a newborn baby, although not crying as much. Yesterday, as I was heading for Paddington in order to catch the Heathrow Express, this ordinary looking man in his mid-twenties sat down next to me and started reading a magazine. Soon after his index finger found its way to one of his nostrils. It dug. Then it dug some more. I was watching all of this in the mirror image in the opposite window. I was getting nervous as to where the finger was heading next. The whole trip became ridiculous, as this repeated itself several times. He also picked his ears and by the time he started digging into the corner of his left eye I decided it was time for me to leave.

Travelling itself is just a whole lot of waiting around. Waiting for trains, buses, planes, lifts, check-in time etc. I bet about two fifths of my trip was spent waiting for something (that includes sleep; sometimes it's just passing time, waiting to wake up). But it was ok; lots of time to think and relax. Unfortunately the only channel I could receive well enough in my hotel room was Channel Five, which is kind of boring to watch. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to watch the same episode of Home and Away twice. I have to admit I was very bored at that point. I don't even know where in the series they are; last time I watched that show I was staying in Belgium for the summer and was only watching it because the others in the house were watching it religiously and there was nothing else to do. There was one show I just had to watch on BBC1, though, even though the reception was bad, and that was Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - I listen to his radio show every Saturday but I obviously don't get to see his TV show over here, so whenever I can (which is about once a year) I watch that show. Anyway, I didn't go there to watch a lot of telly but it's nice to have something to do when "lounging" after a long day of walking.

Because, yes - I couldn't avoid my usual long walks this time either. I don't know what it is, but every time I go somewhere I always end up walking a lot. That way I get to see a lot of whatever town I'm in, but my feet and back are killing me by the end of the day and I usually get sleepy at around nine, which is a drag if you're going to actually do something during the evening.

Current track: Fatboy Slim - Song for Chesh

Labels: holiday, tube

Getting ready to go to London in the morning; I've got my shopping list ready: Polo (spearmint flavour), The Sims 2 and cigarettes (the last one's not for me but I've got bad enough morals to buy them for a friend). I've also configured one of the shortcuts on the mobile to point directly to the currency converter, updated earlier today. I've got my passport, VISA and some change ready, I just have to do the packing and set the timer on the DVD recorder.

Meanwhile, Kommersant, a leading financial newspaper in Russia, published these photos of the terrorists of Beslan; I'm not a squeamish person at all, but this made me really queasy. It reminded me of those photos the Nazis took of their prisoners/slaves.

Current track: The rain on my window.

Labels: current affairs, holiday

You know, I'm feeling a bit under the weather. Not sure if it's because I'm really, really afraid of getting a cold or if it's because I know I'm going to spend a lot of money I shouldn't really be spending this week. Any which way I'm getting a bit nervous about travelling. Looking forward to going to the airports and all that, eating at Garfunkel's, seeing the plays etc., but I'm still a bit nervous.

I've got to check the TV schedule. ;-)

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: holiday, personal

I've been really lazy these past two weeks, just relaxing, almost lying flat out in the chair in front of the telly. *feeling slightly ashamed* Spent most of today playing Final Fantasy X - I swear, if that guy Titus keeps saying "Huh?" much longer I will turn violent. The battle system is rather nifty, so I like the game in that sense, but I doubt it very much that this game has any replay value. The strictly linear storyline is driving me crazy. I'm not a hardcore roleplayer, as I can't say I'm an expert on D&D, for instance, but I like my RPG's to be much more complicated than this. Oh, well. It's a nice enough game to have me hooked for days on end.

In other news; started watching Ted and Alice tonight; repeat on BBC Prime. Missed the first episode, but thanks to the resume and my superior intelligence (joking, of course) I got into the story straight away. I like Dawn French a lot, and then there's Stephen Tompkinson whom I associate first and foremost with the brilliant series Ballykissangel, and finally Peter Serafinowicz has a part in the show, so I enjoyed it immensely. Owen Teale was quite good, too. Bit of a leap from playing Dr. Roland Freisler in Conspiracy, which I watched for the second time last week. (Speaking of Teale, when will we ever be allowed to see The Search for John Gissing? Considering all the crap they put on video and DVD these days I don't see why this little film should be left out of the market. /sidetrack) Thank Bob for BBC Prime and our many years of importing BBC series. Where would I have been without them?

Current track: ABBA - SOS

Labels: comedy, film, gaming, holiday, peter serafinowicz, TV

I returned on Friday, actually, but then I had lots to do (AKA "watching telly") and then on Saturday I got lots more to do (AKA "bought a Playstation 2 console and played with it for days") so I couldn't post this until now. You believe me, right?

The flight was uneventful, really, apart from the nice chat I had with one of the girls I was visiting (she was returning from her holiday and so we travelled together.) The only pictures I took were of their new flat and of the beach not far from their house; here are the latter:











Oh, and that's the North Sea, by the way. If you look far enough, you can see England. *winks*

We mostly did nothing; I got a cold on my second day there so all I wanted to do was stay indoors and eat lots of Strepsil etc. A few of their friends came to visit and we had a lovely time just chatting for hours upon hours. Watched a couple of films. Played some Playstation (that's why I needed to buy one for myself.) All in all a very nice holiday. Apart from the fact that due to my headcold I had a terrible time flying home, or rather the landing part - I kept saying to myself "the eardrums won't burst, they just won't," all the while I was steadfastly losing my hearing. My ears finally popped a few hours ago. Phew!

Something made me miss "my guys" from La Cage aux Folles (the French films, that is - must get over the stage show soon) but now that I'm home I haven't watched any of the films again, so I couldn't have missed them that badly. I'm also determined to watch all my Eddie Izzard material this week (that's six shows and a couple of one-offs (acts in benefit shows, mostly, some TV programmes as well) AND I'd like to watch all my Have I Got News for You clips (I'm guessing that'll take another six or seven hours.) Get back to me on Sunday to check how much I've actually seen by then.

Current track: Still going to put on that Depeche Mode CD

Labels: comedy, film, holiday

Looking forward to spending a few days on the southwestern coast of Norway; never been in that part of the country (shame on me) so it's going to be great. Staying with friends I haven't seen in a long while so I bet we'll be chatting a lot and sleeping very little. Going there means I'll be back at my favourite spot in a few hours' time - Gardermoen International Airport (although I believe the international companies call it "Oslo Airport" - its abbreviation is OSL.) See you in a few days! Hopefully I will have taken a couple of photos by then. I did when I visited the same couple in Fredrikstad one and a half years ago (yes, they lived there - it's a beautiful city but I haven't seen much of it, unfortunately. Shame on me again.)

Looking forward to seeing Bubba Ho-Tep before going to bed tonight, though. Bruce Campbell is such fun.

Current track: Nothing, the telly's on. The theme for American Dreams I guess.

Labels: film, holiday, Norway

It's Pride Week and the big Pride Parade will take place tomorrow. I thought of going, meet up with old friends etc., but then I'm actually taking the weather into consideration - am I growing old extremely fast? Then again, the whole parade lasts for about nine minutes and probably isn't worth it anyway. It usually isn't. It's just embarrassing, considering how big it could have been. I'm never going to forget the parade on the first day of the Gay Games in the Netherlands back in 1998; great music, fantastic costumes, wonderful atmosphere. Our Pride Parade is just...boring, really, at least compared to that one.

I've spent the day categorising my music. I should probably get back to work. I though I'd enjoy the holiday, and I have, it's just that staying at home feels wrong when I could be working. That's why I didn't take the two weeks off that my doctor ordered after I broke my elbow back in January. My boss has actually noticed that; he commended me the other week; I was in such shock (I think we all were) that I completely forgot to tell you. Make no mistake, though, he's still a twat and I'm not going to work for him more than another year (that I promise!) I need a serious change or some of my friends will admit me to some mental hospital and not just joke about it.

Current track: Kamaya Painters - Far from Over (Wavestate Mix)

Labels: holiday, lists, music, personal

...and what on earth have I been doing, I wonder? Hmm...well, most of last weekend was spent doing mostly nothing, then this week was more of the nothing-doing and today I've been doing...nothing.

Seriously, though, last weekend was spent doing the usual stuff on Saturday (listening to Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio 2, listening to whatever drama they're playing on NRK P1, then turn to NRK P2 in order to listen to this week's satirical round-up of the news (BBC's Dead Ringers and Have I Got News for You spring to mind) while washing up (and missing half of what they're saying, so I always record it just in case), then a couple of hours off, meaning I read and/or play computer games (this weekend it was Neverwinter Nights again, until I suddenly got tired of killing Fire Giants and loaded Rise of Nations instead), then there's Friday's edition of Top of the Pops on BBC Prime before turning to the news and whatever programmes they've got on NRK again. I really don't need anything but BBC and NRK (which is our state-owned channel, it is VERY MUCH like the BBC in every possible way, except that...uhmm...it's in Norwegian, of course. I just knew you wanted to know that.)

No, I don't go out partying all night. Been there, done that. I know quite a few of my old schoolmates won't believe me when I say that, and I don't really care. All that matters is that boozing and stumbling about (I think they like to call it "dancing", but there's usually not much rhythm present) doesn't interest me anymore. During one semester at Uni I used all of my savings and student loan on partying and I'll be paying for that for another fifteen years, so I'm not quite sure if it was worth it. Oh well. Anyway, all of the pubs and clubs I used to go to are gone, all but one. Went past there last night after ANOTHER bout at the theatre (I'll get back to that) and was reminded why I don't want to go back to that place.

I remember watching five films on Sunday, sort of took off completely there. Among them Orange County, which was surprisingly funny (AND John Lithgow, another one of my favourites, was in it) - I spent most of the film comparing young Colin Hanks to his dad and came to the conclusion that they look alike and share many other characteristics as well. Gestures, for instance, even his voice sounded a bit like Tom's from time to time.

I don't remember what I was doing on Monday. Working? Probably. Watching a lot of telly, I think. The wraps-up of all the series before summer and all that. The finals of Nr. 19, based on the Aussie Channel 9/Nine Network The Block. Brilliant.

Last night? My seventh visit to see La Cage. The saga does not end there. I bought another two tickets today, to get an even TEN. I've spent NOK 3,600 (£300) on that show and may be admitted to a mental hospital at any time. Seriously, I know how much it has meant to me these last five months to have somewhere to go in order to just get away from my extremely crappy life, so if people think I'm weird then so be it. At least I've had great fun and Bob only knows what I'll do now. GET A HOBBY, PERHAPS? ;-) Anyway, last night I brought someone with me, someone who hadn't seen the show before, and she said she liked it a lot too. I apologise, but since I've got this very twisted and sadistic sense of humour (*winks*) I just had to applaud when one of them completely lost track of the script. I had no idea most of the audience would applaud as well, they usually don't pay any attention to me.

So that was my week, how was yours? Next week I'll go to the hospital for a check-up to see if I can become a blood donor. About bloody time (heehee), because I promised myself to become one 12 years ago. Coming to think of it, that was round about the time I decided I should not be a member of the church* any longer; haven't got around to that one either. Ahem. (* Basically most Norwegians automatically become members of the State Church at birth because a) their parents can't be bothered to baptise them anywhere else, or b) their family really IS a Christian one (which is highly unlikely, apparently, according to all the newest surveys - Norwegians are the least religious people in Europe.))

Of course there's the Harry Potter film I'll go and see next week, in addition to another two visits to the theatre (definitely my last two, as it ends next Saturday - hey, it's my way of saying "thanks" and "this was a great show" and "I really think the city council should give the theatres more money" and "please pay our actors more money as well because this is getting ridiculous" and "I really need a holiday" *winks again*.) Oh, and I'll start my holiday in two weeks' time. My boss asked me if I really needed that week off, since I'm not going anywhere (his idea of a holiday is going abroad and stressing even more than usual, mine is to get away from work) - as he said that I thought "well, that clinches it, I'm DEFINITELY going on holiday." We spent another day at work today seriously thinking of quitting. I can't even begin to try and make you understand how the boss is. You wouldn't believe me anyway. David Brent (from The Office) is my dream boss compared to the one I've got. Really. *getting slightly frustrated*

The grass IS greener on the other side.

Current track: Escobar - Someone New

Labels: comedy, film, gaming, holiday, humour, john lithgow, Norway, party, radio, theatre, TV

For some reason (I think, perhaps, holiday-related), during summer everything shuts down. Things cease to happen, basically. No one can be bothered to release any new albums, films, books etc. The few films scheduled for a summer release count less than five. Shops close, the post office and banks close early, TV shows are all repeats, the only thing that seems to be alive during summer is the pulsating mass of tourists. What are we supposed to do, we (few) who don't like sunbathing all day long?

Current track: Another comedy show on the radio.

Labels: film, holiday, literature, music, personal, TV

Yes, it's official; I have turned into Dame Edna. Well, perhaps not, but it was a nice intro.

I was just watching Iris (the film) and I was so amazed at how they'd managed to find the right kind of actors for each part, both when it comes to acting and looks. I was especially amazed at how the Maurices resembled each other...until I read the credits and discovered they were father and son in real life (so sue me; I am devastated that I did not know their real names, because I know their work rather well.)

Now, where have I been? Well, there's Easter of course, spent mostly glued to the radio and/or the telly, and then I just had a lot to do at work and didn't feel like sitting down and telling you about my boring day. Still, I have done a few interesting things. Like finalising my dream cast list for my dream version of Noises Off. It's going to be absolutely wonderful and it'll be a huge hit and the designated theatre would be crazy not to sign me up for this ordeal production. Everyone will love working with me and we'll make heaps of cash, securing the future of the aforementioned theatre. (Humour me.)

I had a bit of a celebration last Friday as I went to see La Cage aux Folles for the fifth time. It was as stunning as ever. The next day they were auctioning off all the costumes and off we went. Didn't have much money, otherwise I would have loved to own one or more of the costumes. Not to wear, but for fun. Great memorabilia! Oh, well, some other time. The auction was great fun, though; despite the strong smell of old liquor and cod (???) from somewhere in the audience. I would have loved to have lots of money and buy a performance just for me and my friends, because its closing date is June 19 and I know I will be sulking for some time afterwards. Woe is me.

Yesterday I watched Timeline, which was slightly crappy, but half saved by the experienced actors. However, a friend of mine (soon to be a superstar, but that's another story) has read the book twice (nearly) and as I reviewed the film with her we discovered that the film follows the novel's storyline like a drunkard follows a straight, white line. Apparently it's like watching a whole new story altogether. I remember vividly how it annoyed me that they'd changed the brand of the car in The Firm and changed the whole scenario of The Runaway Jury and changed the ending of The Vanishing (the Hollywood version, naturally,) but this is ten times as bad. Still, I rediscovered Marton Csokas, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

The surprise this weekend, however, was that The Butterfly Effect, starring Ashton *gags* Kutcher, turned out to be brilliant! I know! Weird, isn't it? I'm flabbergasted. Mostly because it's my favourite word. So I would recommend that film to everyone. Especially those who thought Memento was a great film (i.e. right-thinking people *winks*.)

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: film, holiday, marton csokas, musicals, radio, theatre, TV