Sykling

Jeg er veldig glad i å sykle. Jogging kan du få billig av meg, men å sykle, det er bra. Jeg er en fartsjunkie og liker egentlig alle ting som går fort. Det er kanskje derfor det er smart at jeg har en bil med 29 hestekrefter. Det er fysisk umulig å kjøre superfort, så da må jeg lære meg litt tolmodighet. Jeg har to svært strukturerte og turglade foreldre og sommerferier hos hos har alltid inkludert en uke med fysisk utfoldelse. Fram til jeg var ca 15 år gikk vi fra hytte til hytte på fjellet en uke hver sommer (vi har ikke hytte, da må man jo gå på tur på de samme stedene år etter år) og fra jeg var 12 år startet vi å dra på sykkeltur. Jeg har en bror som er 3 år yngre, så sykkelturen da jeg var 12 var ikke så lang. Men gjennom planleggingen av sykkelturen kom mamma og pappa borti Nordsjøruta. Det er en sykkelrute som går rundt hele Nordsjøen, gjennom Norge, Sverige, Danmark, Tyskland, Nederland, England, Skottland og Færøyene.

Det er merket rute rundt hele Nordsjøen og egne sykkelkart til ruta. Det er bedre tilrettelagt i noen land enn andre, men det er en veldig god måte å komme seg rundt og få sett litt. Så da jeg var 12 startet vi i Norge og siden den gang har vi tatt en liten bit hver sommer. Vi hadde tiårsjubileum for ikke lenge siden og vi har nå fullført Norge, Sverige, Danmark, Tyskland og Nederland, så alt som gjenstår er de Britiske øyer og Færøyene. Det er omtrent 5000 km rundt og vi sykler ikke så lange dagsetapper, så det tar noen år før vi er ferdige, men det er egentlig greit. Det er godt å ha et prosjekt man holder på med og som vi har felles alle fire. Jeg vet ikke helt hva vi skal finne på når vi er ferdige. Dessuten er de gamle speidere begge to, så det er absolutt reisen som er målet, ikke å ha syklet lengst mulig. Det er viktig å ha tid til å kunne stoppe og spise is, plukke markjordbær og å bade.

I år er et spesielt år, for i år skal vi ikke på sykkelferie. Jeg visste ikke når jeg skulle jobbe og Bror visste ikke når han kom ut av militæret så det ble vanskelig å planlegge. En del av områdene ruta går gjennom er veldig populære sommerferieutfartssteder, så skal man ha tak over hodet må man bestille i god tid. Men så skal vi alle sammen på biltreff i Frankrike i juli, så det ble besluttet at det ikke blir sykling, men heller bilferie som blir fellesferien i år. Vi har, som jeg har sagt før, hver vår 2CV og tre av dem skal kjøre fra Oslo til Salbris, sør for Orleáns og tilbake i juli/august. Det gleder jeg meg til!

Men siden det selvfølgelig ikke kan bli sommer uten sykkeltur, så sykler jeg opp og ned til Bymarka så ofte jeg kan og så følger jeg med på Hans Olav sin blogg. Hans Olav er i Komité Speiding med meg og i sommer sykler familien hans i Danmark. De har med seg internett og blogger underveis. Så da driver jeg med litt mimring, det er fint.

PS: jeg hadde ingen fine illustrasjonsfoto fra sykkeltur på dataen, men jeg skal se hva jeg kan finne etter hvert 🙂

Hvitt

Jeg kom over en artikkel om Norges beste interiørblogg og sjekket ut noen av bloggene som hadde vunnet. De siste to ukene har jeg plutselig fÃ¥tt litt interesse for slikt, sÃ¥nn helt ut av ingenting, i tillegg til at jeg hadde en veldig spennende prat om lamper og alle de andre uendelige mulighetene man har nÃ¥r man pusser opp en leilighet fra bunnen over en øl pÃ¥ BrukBar. For som Marit sa: “Er du klar over hvor mange forskjellige lamper som finnes?!?”

Etter å ha bladd raskt gjennom fem interiørblogger har jeg konstatert at jeg er for mandig for norske interiørblogger. Selv jeg hadde følt meg stor og klumpete i husene til disse damene. Alle vegger er hvite, møbler er hvite og småstaffasje er blomstrete eller i sterk oransj eller rosa. Det er pent, det er ikke det, men det blir så feminint at jeg tror jeg hadde endt opp med å gå i mørkeblått og svart hver dag. Bare for å kompensere.

Jeg skal ikke si sÃ¥ mye, jeg malte rommet mitt hjemme helt hvitt for noen Ã¥r siden og det eneste jeg har der er en trehvit seng, to gamle mørkebrune trestoler med burgunder plysjtrekk og to store billedrammer i svart og gull med store bilder av meg selv i, et gigantisk speil, hvit bokhylle og trehvitt nattbord. Det er fremdeles sÃ¥ lenge til jeg fÃ¥r et sted som er mitt og som jeg mÃ¥ fylle med egne møbler at jeg har ikke rukket Ã¥ fundere sÃ¥ mye pÃ¥ fargevalg og sÃ¥nt. Men etter Ã¥ ha sett pÃ¥ disse bloggene er det helt klart at det blir mørkere farger. Gjerne tre, men kanskje ikke pastellfarget? Uansett, “aldri si aldri” pleier jeg Ã¥ tenke. Du vet aldri hva du mener om noe om noen Ã¥r, men blonder, hekleduker, blomstermønster og kosedyr vil alltid være superfeminint. Vil det ikke?

 

 

 

 

Skjønner du hva jeg mener?

(Jeg glemte Ã¥ skrive ned hvilke bilder som er fra hvilke blogger, men de er alle nevnt i artikkelen pÃ¥ Dagbladet.no og de var pÃ¥ forsidene til bloggene 26.6.11. Kildehenvisningsfrik? Jeg? Neida…)

Porn

Yes, porn.

Girls don’t talk about porn. Well, few do.

Girls don’t watch porn. Or do they?

If porn is a guy thing, why is it so? This week I had a rare moment of time in front of the TV and in one of the random drama shows I zapped by, porn was the issue. The police officers (or whatever they were) were discussing if porn made you a rapist. My first thought was that if that is true, we should have a lot more rapists in this world. But then, no one really knows how many rapes there are in a country every year. I have heard that most rape victims know their rapist, at least that they are not complete strangers, so that porn makes you a rapist doesn’t seem that probable to me.

But back to the porn. One of the female officers in the TV show asked her colleagues how they could watch porn, when porn is just another way of abusing women. She was appalled at how even soccer moms do Brazilian bikini waxes to look like porn stars. And then I thought, why do we see women in porn movies as abused or taken advantage of? Or rather, why aren’t the men in porn movies taken advantage of? I haven’t watched that much porn, but I have watched some. And the movies are not all about a guy doing what he wants to a girl. Sex is something two (grown up) people do (at least it’s more fun when you’re two) so it is sort of strange assuming that it is a disgrace to one of them. Why is porn a terrible way of displaying women and not men? They are both there.

Because everybody wants sex, not just guys. Some want sex more or less than others, but this doesn’t really depend on your sex, on whether you are male of female. It’s unfair to say that porn is wrong because it gives a distorted picture of female sexual life. You might be right, but in that case, it should give a distorted picture of male sexual life as well. Not that many guys have sex as they do in the porn movies, trust me. Porn might not show normal sex, but is it wrong?

All this thinking about female sexuality, especially how we think about it in my culture, got me thinking about rape. There was an article in Dagbladet about four guys getting off on a group rape charge at a camping site. They got off because the girl was known to have sex with guys she didn’t know while drunk and because she really couldn’t remember anything. My first reaction was that this was terrible and that the four of them should all be in jail. But how do you know that something is rape? Can a girl wake up after a night out, and when she can’t remember anything because she was too drunk and she doesn’t like the look of the guy beside her, is she allowed to call it rape? Who decides if it is rape? When you are over 18, you are your own responsibility. That means that you are responsible for your actions, and getting too drunk is not an excuse for stupid actions, because getting too drunk is still your own fault. But on the other side, when someone is too drunk to take care of themselves, that does not mean that you are free to do as you like with them. And how fun is it to have sex with someone who is too drunk anyway? Don’t tell guys not to rape girls, teach them that sex isn’t something a guy does to a girl, it is something they do together.

Both when it comes to porn and rape, I think it is time for girls to take some responsibility, responsibility for their sexuality. You need to know what you like, what you are comfortable with and you have to say no. NO. But more importantly, you have to say YES. Yes, I like this. Yes, do it like that. If you don’t get used to giving feedback, you could (and would, I think) suddenly find yourself in a situation where someone is doing something that you don’t like. Nobody can read your mind, so speak your mind.

A female porn actor is just as empowered as a male porn actor. And a girl is just as responsible for her sexual life as a guy is. And if you don’t like the porn they’re making, do something about it. I’m not saying that girls shouldn’t get drunk and wear short dresses, just that sex is a two way interaction. Neither part should think it natural that the girl doesn’t contribute.

Wardrobe

If you have followed my blog since before my camera shut down in April, you will know that I am a girl with a medium sized wardrobe with aspirations to be a girl with a walk in closet. I need enough space to store all my shoes in one place (not three as I do now), I need better shelves and enough hanging space for my dresses.

Because you can never have too many dresses.

And while going through my must-read-list on the internet I found my dream wardrobe at Tales of endearment. Just look

I want order and enough room for everything. Right now I keep my pretty shoes in boxes so they don’t get too dusty, but I want this. Someday.

And DRESSES. All colors and patterns and shapes.

Look at this. A whole room. A sofa for your friends and just to gaze at all the beauty. The worst part about this is that the girl who owns this wardrobe is my age. Definitely need to start working on the contents of my walk in closet 😉

Beer!

My social life is looking up and it even includes new and exiting people, so I’m all smiles 🙂 So tonight will be BrukBar and more of these:

And also, I found out that to repair my old camera would cost me more than to buy a new one, so now I’m hunting for a new one. Think I will upgrade and buy a good camera and a macro lens. So soon you will be swamped with landscape, people and tiny flowers and things. I just need to find out what camera to buy, where to buy it and what lens to get… Oh, the choices.

Makt er plikt – frihet er ansvar

Noe av det mest slitsomme jeg vet om er å være fri til å gjøre akkurat det jeg vil og noe det skumleste jeg vet er fullstendig frihet. For når du kan velge akkurat det du vil, da er konsekvensene av valgene dine bare din skyld. Det er ingen andre du kan skylde på om det går dårlig og du vet at det er en uendelighet med andre utfall som du også kunne valgt. Ikke bare det, men selv om du har valgt kan du alltid velge om igjen. Som betyr at for hver gang du velger har du uendelig med valg både framover og bakover. Jeg synes ikke det er det minste rart at mennesker nå til dags er stressa og misfornøyde og ikke vet hva de skal gjøre med livene sine. Det er mye lettere å være fornøyd med livet sitt når man vet at det ikke er noe annet man kunne gjort uansett. Det høres kanskje underlig ut, men det er sånn det er. Har du ikke noe valg får du bare vær så god å like det du har. Før tok man det man fikk og trengte ikke tenke på alt man ikke fikk.

Jeg synes det er vanskelig å bevege meg raskt framover om jeg ikke vet hvor jeg skal. Det er vanskelig å holde stø kurs framover når man stadig ser bak seg og lurer på om man kanskje skulle tatt en annen vei. Derfor prøver jeg å ikke bare bestemme meg for hvor jeg skal, men også lage meg nøkler for hva jeg skal gjøre om noe uventet skjer eller jeg kommer til et veikryss. Å starte på noe der jeg ikke aner hva jeg skal gjøre når det er over, det er det sjelden jeg tør. Det er som å sykle kjempefort uten å vite om det er murvegg eller åpen vei rett foran deg. Jeg er ganske redd for å kræsje inn i murvegger, så ser jeg ikke hvor jeg skal, så sykler jeg heller saktere. Da er det i hvert fall større sjanse for at jeg klarer å komme meg unna veggen, men jeg kommer kanskje ikke like langt fram. Å få gode resultater henger ofte sammen med hardt arbeid. Jeg er dårlig på å sikte mot stjernene. For jeg vet jo ikke hvor langt det er opp dit.

Jeg er glad i å sammenlikne meg med en sykkel. En underlig metafor kanskje. Om det er en metafor, da. Jeg pleier å si at jeg er som en sykkel, jeg må ha nok å gjøre ellers velter jeg og kommer ikke framover, som en sykkel uten nok fart. Og jeg synes tydeligvis at livet er som å sykle med bind for øynene, du vet aldri hva som kommer. Ved å planlegge så prøver jeg å myse litt under bindet for å se ett skritt foran der jeg er, så jeg unngår disse murveggene.

I disse dager prøver jeg å finne ut om jeg tør å leve et liv på en sykkel i full fart mot en murvegg med bindet stramt knytt over øynene. For det er litt sånn det er å drive med akademia. Du må stå på som en helt for i det hele tatt ha en sjanse. Og får du det ikke til så får du like mye lønn som en med bare mastergrad uansett. Dessuten lever du fra hånd til munn og fra kortsiktig kontrakt til kortsiktig kontrakt. Disse fem ukene som har gått har vært en ildprøve for hvordan neste år kommer til å bli. Om jeg trives like godt til høsten som jeg gjør nå, da skal jeg tørre å sykle rett inn i murveggen og satse alt på en doktorgrad (PhD). Stole på at alt ordner seg. Fylle sparekontoen min og jobbe hardt på masteroppgaven. Sparekonto og masteroppgave er som to typer sikkerhet, sykkelhjelm og vinger. En sikker redning og en usikker redning. Så får vi se om det er sykkelhjelmen som redder meg fra murveggen eller vingene. Og om det er mer sannsynlig at jeg overlever et møte med en murvegg med hjelm på hodet eller ved å fly over murveggen.

Til ikke å være et gram religiøs føler jeg meg dobbelt modig som satser på vingene. Jeg lurer på om det er høyere sannsynlighet for å gro vinger enn å få fast ansettelse i en forskerstilling.

Den som lever får se.

A song of ice and fire

I have mentioned that I read A game of thrones earlier, and book worm as I am, I got hooked. And when the friend I borrowed the book from couldn’t lend me the next one (and the public library didn’t have the series) I had to buy it myself. Lucky enough for me, the first four books of the series A song of ice and fire cost me just under 200NOK. Dead cheap! And they only took three days to deliver, so now the first four of these are residing in my book shelf and I am reading Shantaram at the office and A clash of kings at home.

I don’t think I want to try the TV series before I have read all the books, just so the pictures don’t ruin my reading experience. But I probably need to check out the series afterwords.

It looks like I’ll be able to finish my lab work in time, hopefully this week. And then a quiet life of solo work and social life with myself awaits.

IMWestalgia

Just wanted to put out a short film that was made with footage from IMWe, the creative leadership course I did during Easter. It is really sweet and only takes a couple of minutes. I’m not in it, but still. It will give you an idea of how it was.

And just so you know, it was wonderful 😉

World famous!

Ok, so it’s not me I’m talking about, but these two:

This is my mom and dad at a 2CV gathering this last weekend. You should read this article about them, but you need to know Norwegian. but if you don’t, I still suggest you click in and have a look at the pictures. Most of them are taken of my dad’s car (the white and oragne one called Spot). The article is really a long interview with my mom about her being the last in our family getting a 2CV and how wonderful it is to own one 😉

I’ll be off to Hvaler this weekend to be a super scout and am hoping for wonderful weather and a warm sea. And even my lab work is moving fast in the right direction, so I think there might be a chance of summer holidays in a couple of weeks. Sweet!

Babies?

As this is the end of my fourth year at Uni and I have turned 23, people around me are starting to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. A lot of people are in a relationship where they are just waiting to finish their studies so they can buy a place to live, get married and have children. There are so many people around me getting married, getting pregnant and acting like this is a normal thing to do.

I feel like I’m caught up in this bubble called Uni, not really wanting to leave it behind, while people are already getting ready for their life afterwards. It scares me to think that they feel grown up enough to have a child of their own. Because if they are ready, and they are just as old as I am and have experienced the same as I have, should I too be ready? Am I actually old enough? I don’t feel like I have the knowledge to introduce another being to the world.

But on the other side, I go to Uni to make Uni my career, not to get a job so can live a real life. My plan is that Uni will be my life. My master thesis will define my options when I graduate, it isn’t just that I have a master in biology, but the exact methods I used and the theories I know. Some people end up with PhDs close to their masters, others with something completely different. But to get a PhD I have to work really hard on my master and th I have to work really hard on my PhD. I barely managed to make time for a boyfriend and I don’t see any more time popping up in the near future to have time for anything more.

The best thing, I thought, about moving out form home, was that I didn’t have to report to anyone. I could choose to not have dinner, to not come home at night, to spontaneously change my plans last minute or to just stay home. I like having the freedom of being just me. Not having anyone to come home to. Oh, it’s nice to have someone to have dinner with (or breakfast for that matter) when you want some company, but to have to be home at half past three to pick up your kid in kindergarden or at four to have dinner ready, no. I’d like my life to be centered around me for a couple more years.

I want to be young and free, get a decent salary and have someone I can travel with. Both the big expeditions and the Sundays in the park. I’m definitely with Nemi on this one:

25!

A friend of mine turns 25 tomorrow and she threw a little party yesterday. I wore my new, white summer dress, but as I have no camera for real pose pics, this is all you get

White dress, gold necklace and earrings, my usual gold coloured watch with brown leather wrist band and dark brown heels.

Desperately need more summer dresses. Just this time and money problem. Gah.

Equal rites

This one went through my facebook the other day. Marriage is about loving someone. It is about economical aspects of your life, laws and who has the right to decide what happens to you when you’re dead. Not having to adopt you own children. Who you love is just a small part of what makes you you.

I wonder what gay parking looks like.

PS: I highly recommend the book Equal rites by Terry Pratchett. It is one of many in The Discworld series. He has a keeneye for what is human.

Interior design

Many people have a dream house. Or they can walk through IKEA and put things together. Have favorite sofas and chairs. I don’t really do interior design. I’m good at putting food together and I’m good at putting clothes together, but interior, not my thing. I never get inspired either. Don’t know why.

There are some things that I would like to have, at least once in my life. I’d like bright open spaces. Deep windowsills with pillows for reading and looking at people. Dark matte tiles in the bathroom. Balcony and/ or terrace that’s big enough. Privacy to sun bathe naked (at least half naked). Large kitchen with enough disk space to make a five course dinner for 20 people. I want a floor to ceiling cupboard for glass ware. I’d like a library with books along all the walls, even over the door.

I don’t care what city I will live in or if I’ll live in the city centre or in the country side. It’ll take me a couple of years to want a garden again (it is a lot of work), especially one with grass. As long as I have wild strawberries I’ll be happy.

But then the other day I looked through another person’s inspirational photos and suddenly I found interior design that hit me.

This is almost like my window sill and library at once. And you should have a secret room behind the books (since the nook is so deep).

This reminded me of all the teapots that my father had to throw away when they cleared out his mother’s house this winter. My brother and I both got a teapot each, but the 15 others were thrown away. We could have used then as pots. I would never have thought of it.

This was such a smart solution to use the useless space under the stairs.

I just liked this sign. This is how you should do it at your summer house. Or if you live in the right kind of house.

I think I’m growing up. I’ve lived so many places and seen so many houses that I think I’m starting to know what I want. Even though I know it will be another 20 years until I can afford what I want…

Squash!

You should eat squash this week.

As I am working at the office 12 hours a day, and have been for almost four weeks now, and still haven’t gotten my camera back, there is not much blogging about food. Things that have happened:

– Penne with peppers (paprika), tomato, chicken and feta cheese. Spice the chicken with ground paprika and garlic, use soft (preferably Turkish) feta cheese. Add all to a bowl and pour some Balsamico vinegar over. Balsamico + peppers + tomato + feta cheese is a killer combo.

– I was inspired by these pictures:

Squash rolls with feta cheese.

Oved baked and filled with minced meat and cheese.

I tried to make the rolls, but you should probably roast the squash first and put the cheese in afterwords, while i made sandwiches of squash and feta cheese. It was good though. Next project is the squash boat. It must be good for BBQ.

– Yesterday we talked about vegetable subscriptions and using new and different veggies. I want to start using different greens, but firstly I don’t really know what they look like or what I can do with them. But that is what the internet and good friends are for 😉

Where do you get your food inspiration from?

Holidays…

You would think that I am overjoyed by the fact that I have holidays now. And it’s ok, I guess. But since I won’t have time off until July 20. it doesn’t feel the same. I love that is it summer, and it is sort of exiting to be in the city (I’m always off someplace, in the mountains, by the sea, at a scout camp etc.) but it just feels like it is a long time until my shoulders will be down where they belong. This is like grown up training. Having to be inside working in the middle of June. Being alone because (almost) all my friends have left. I bet this is what it would be like when I get a job and move to a new place. I’ll just have to get used to my own company. It is an art to be able to be alone without feeling lonely.

We had wonderful weather yesterday and I decided to spend my free time in the park instead of in the lab. My iPod has a hiccup so I left for the park with only a matt, hat and book. I’m almost finished with A game of thrones (George R. R. Martin) now and have started reading Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts). I love his language and I’m looking forward to reading more of it. I’m suspecting that there will be more lazy afternoons in the park this summer.

I have made many new friends in Trondheim these last few months. And now, one of my newest friends have made a Facebook group for all of us who are staying in Trondheim this summer. So even though my plans only stretch out until Monday I might have something to do and people to meet after that as well 🙂

Currently listening to Death cab for cutie and wondering which samples to do next. My life is filled with Russian and Canadian locations, crushed moss and excel sheets that just keep growing.

 

Syrin

Dagene går unna og selv om jeg hadde sett for meg at det kom til å bli et stille liv med mye kontorarbeid, er det fremdeles bare middels stille (selv om jeg hadde rett når det kom til arbeidet). I forrige uke spiste jeg dagens treretter på Emilies for 280kr (anbefales! Men man må starte måltidet mellom 16 og 18), fikk middag og tursekktips hos Camilla på torsdag og hadde EiT-gruppa mi på middag på fredag. Jeg lagde kjøttkaker med hvitløk, timian og fylt med ost, hadde fersk tagliatelle og hjemmelaget tomatsaus. Og så stekte vi asparges rullet i bacon til. Deilig!

Denne uka ser ikke dårligere ut 🙂 Idag har Velferdstinget sommerfest og det blir tapas og kos. Imorgen er det fest med biologifolket (jeg har ikke sett dem på evigheter, isolert som jeg er her nede i sentrum), torsdag tror jeg jeg må bli hjemme, men jeg har et skypemøte om roverleir 2012 som blir spennende og så blir det avskjedsgrilling på Theisendammen med museumsfolka på fredag. Og i tillegg så har jeg i hvert fall fire middagsavtaler som ikke har fått dato ennå 🙂

Det er deilig å være der klesskapet mitt er, nå som det er varmt og (ganske) tørt i været. Jeg går med fine sko hver dag og nyter å ha bare bein. Igår plukket jeg med meg litt syriner på vei hjem (blomsterplukkeren min har forlatt Trondheim for sommeren).

Syriner er både pene og lukter godt. Og siden jeg skal være alene i flere måneder nå, så har jeg bestemt meg for at jeg får ha det litt romantisk og koselig alene.

Blomster og stearinlys gjorde susen (for kosen).

NÃ¥ er det to dager til jeg har siste og eksamen og da er det “bare” labarbeid til masteren igjen før det er sommerferie. SÃ¥ fÃ¥r vi se hvor mange penger jeg rekker Ã¥ tjene før jeg skal til Frankrike 🙂

Haircut!

When I went to high school, I had short hair and went to the hair dresser every two months. But after I moved and started studying, I really couldn’t afford all this and now I go maybe twice a year. And today was the day. I cut my hair last during Christmas so it was time. Now that I’m saving for longer hair, it doesn’t look that different, but I love the feeling of “new” hair. You feel like an improved version of yourself.

And after a hair cut, delivering my bicycle for a full make over (new tires, brake wires, general grooming etc) and ordering a new backpack at a store for testing, this turned out to be a really great morning. It might also have something to do with my new alarm clock from Boston 🙂

PS: I’m wearing my favorite silk blouse today. And cut off denim shorts. Love the combo.