Too lazy to not cross-post

Yes, it's from Facebook. I spend far too long on that site...I'm not even going to change the instructions for how to do this yourself on Facebook. Because when I say lazy, I really mean LAZY. And I won't tag anyone as I can't imagine I still have any readers at all at this point. But if you want to read this, and then do it yourself, then feel free, and I'd love to read the results (as indicated in #25).

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 RANDOM THINGS, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I can procrastinate more than anyone I know, and I know some mean procrastinators. All things considered, it's sort of surprising that I can hold down a job, or that I've finished university.

2. The thing I most looked forward to when I moved to Denmark was learning a new language.

3. I met my boyfriend on the Camino de Santiago, the French version. Because as everyone knows, the best place to meet Danish men is in the North of Spain.

4. I bite my cuticles, and have done for about most of my life. I rate the durability of my romantic relationships by how bothered the other person is by this (so, the more bothered they are, the more I figure they care).

5. If I won the lottery, or landed a super-high paying job, I'd outsource all housecleaning.

6. I once intended to start a collection of first edition books. My intention led to me buying the first three Books of Blood, and a first edition copy of Pornucopia. Then I stopped collecting.

7. Growing up, we always had a dog in the family. I miss having a dog in the house. I tried to make up for that gap with sea monkeys. It wasn't the same.

8. All food can be improved by one or more items from the following list: vanilla, ginger, garlic, balsamic vinegar, chocolate.

9. I do regularly attempt to not spend so much time on-line. The key word being 'attempt'.

10. After my studies of bilingualism, I will probably take it very personally if Idunn doesn't end up being really competent in English.

11. I loathe and somewhat fear talking on the phone. I will go to occasionally ludicrous lengths to avoid doing it.

12. I'm still planning to run a marathon. Eventually. Probably not until next year, maybe in the winter.

13. Although I am settled and happy in Denmark, I would move back to Lisbon in a heartbeat. I have saudades whenever I think about it, and have done pretty much since I left it in the first place, in 2001. It think it's all the comfort food. And the comfort language.

14. I have absolutely no idea how I come across to others. Probably a shy person thing.

15. My hair and I have come to an understanding. I leave it pretty much alone, and it does pretty much what it wants. Life is much easier that way.

16. It's been far too long since I've gone to a completely new country, and even longer since I've gone to a completely new continent.

17. I used to regularly read a book a day. I'm working on getting back to even sort of that level of textual interaction. Of course, at that point, it was fiction, and now I'm mostly reading non-fiction, which takes me longer.

18. I check for my brother multiple times a day on iChat. If he's there, I chat with him. If he's not there, I log off again.

19. I forgot to cash a paycheck I received shortly before moving to Portugal. I found it years later when cleaning out my stuff in California. I still have the check somewhere.

20. It's kind of weird how many random people I've reconnected with on Facebook. By reconnected, I mean that they're on my friend list. I really should take the time to actually write to them or something. See item #1 at this point....

21. I'm madly deeply in love with a 9-month old girl. It's kind of spooky. Thor gets offended when I refer to her as the love of my life. But he can't get too upset, because, well, she's the love of his life, too.

22. I miss my regular blog...but at the same time, I seem to have totally run out of anything to write about on a personal blog.

23. Since April, I have discovered a new ability to sing any song, badly, with made-up baby lyrics instead of the original ones.

24. I am not good at taking compliments. They make me nervous, and usually I don't really believe them.

25. I've really been enjoying everyone else's 25 things, and I hope to read even more of them.

Speaking (or rather meme-ing) about spiritual matters

It's been a long time since any memes have been filled out in this internet space, but that will now change. This one's an interesting one, full of questions on things that I don't believe in. Which means that it might end up being quite short. Or, more likely, not. It was nabbed from fellow Virgo Monkey Dok Holocaust.

Astrological Sign? Virgo. Which makes sense if one considers the spirit of the sign, rather than the literal description that books give of the sign. So, for example, I have no domesticity to speak of, but my cd's are always in alphabetical order by artist, chronological within each artist. I am great at thinking of systems, though crap at actually ever implementing them. That sort of thing.

Chinese Astrological Sign? Monkey. I always like the description of this sign, but have never quite been able to see myself in the description. Maybe on a very very good day, where I'm inspired to act totally unlike myself.

What are you currently setting your intention on or praying for? I'm not the praying type. My intentions are to get some work done so that I have something to say in a meeting on that work next week. At the rate I'm going, we'll see how it goes.

Who do you pray to? I don't.

Do you believe God created humans or humans evolved from primordial goo? No. I believe that we are the result of evolution, but have no opinion on primordial goo. For my view on God, there's a question a bit further down.

What is your mantra? I've never had a mantra that's stuck. 'Carpe diem' is a classic, but not really how I've lived my life. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' has a rich, biblical feel, and may be closer to reality, but that's not it, either.

Do you believe in Sin? I believe that sometimes people are really stupid, and do stupid things. There may be people who are 'bad people', though my opinion on this isn't really set. But sin? No, I don't think so.

Do you believe in Evil? I sort of see this in the same way I see sin. I'm sure that there are actions or events that can be called evil. As for those involved in these actions or events, I'm sure some are not evil, but stupid, naive, intimidated, etc. If anyone involved in evil can really be just evil, I honestly couldn't say. I'd like to think no, but don't really know that, either.

What do you do when you see 11:11? am or pm?

AM: At the moment, I'm usually at work if it's a workday, or surfing the internet if it's a weekend. Soon I'll be surfing everyday, and then it'll all shift, and I'll be doing something baby-related.

PM: Usually, this is around when I blog, or right after I've blogged, at which point I'm snoring in bed. Soon, it'll all shift, and I'll be doing something baby-related.

Do you believe in Angels? No. I know someone named Angel, and I believe quite strongly that she exists.

Do you believe in God? No, I truly don't, and I feel that through both the good and the bad. However, I don't believe it's possible to disprove the existence of God, either. I consider myself to be a fundamentalist agnostic.

Is there an aspect of your religion/belief that you haven’t made up your mind about? Is there an aspect of my beliefs that I have made up my mind about? Yes, I really do feel that I am an agnostic. I believe the natural world is so amazing just by itself that adding a supernatural layer onto it that doesn't exist is just overdoing it. I realize that many will disagree. The rest is a work in progress, but not much progress is going on because I'm not on a belief-forming path, and am not prioritizing such matters.

Is there a religion that you don’t follow, but deeply respect or admire? I have watched Buddhism from afar for a long time, specifically Zen-type Buddhism. Meditation fascinates me.

Who has inspired you the most on your spiritual path? What spiritual path? I enjoy a few skeptical podcasts. In life overall, my family and friends are important.

In your opinion, what is the worst mistake we make, as a species? Not thinking of the long-term consequences of our actions. Not being willing to make small sacrifices now to make life more livable for all of us later.

What is something you would like to believe, but don’t? I used to study astrology on a very minor level. It, and tarot cards, and suchlike, are wonderful systems in their complexity. I wouldn't say that I would like to believe in them, but it's fun to play with, regardless of their overall level of worth.

Do you believe in soul mates? No, I don't know that I do. I do believe that there can be two people who can have a deep connection and be right for each other. But I don't believe that there is only one such person for any given person, so that if one of the soul mates dies, for example, that there is nowhere else for the surviving partner to go. I think there are many possibilities to have that special connection for each of us.

Reincarnation or heaven? Nothingness, our physical bodies decomposing and returning to the ecosystem. If I could make one true though, I'd go for reincarnation. Actually, it could be argued that by decomposing, we are given the opportunity for a certain kind of reincarnation.

Best “ah ha!” moment/epiphany? The problem with 'aha' moments is that they reveal things that are quite fundamental and basic, so that once the moment is absorbed, it's hard to remember with such clarity. It's just part of who we are at that point. I'm sure I've had many such moments.

Required spiritual reading? I would say, whatever you are inspired to read, then read it. That goes for any type of reading.

If you could pick, in your final moments, what would your last words be? I wouldn't want to focus on last words, but it would be nice to have the nearness of loved ones.

Advice for a lost soul? Accept that by being lost, you have the opportunity to find a completely new path, that you would never have known about otherwise.

A song that encapsulates your beliefs? Hmmm...the last time I was asked about a song, I chose the Grateful Dead, Brokedown Palace. It still fits.

What to write about writing?

I'm accepting Devil Mood's challenge, to present 3 writing tips. At the moment, I'm finding it relatively hard to write, which makes me an expert on giving tips, I'd imagine (sort of on the 'those who can't do, teach' principle).

1) Write regularly, even when you don't have anything to say. Which explains my whole blog at the moment, now that I think about it. A corollary to this is to also write when you have something to say, which seems like common sense, but seems to be, for me at least, the times in which it's hardest to write.

2) On the other hand, don't just write. Go out and experience things which you can then write about (or experience things while writing about them, or just while writing). Travel, develop interests and hobbies, immerse yourself in life, work on projects (or just work).

3) You will always be your own best reader. You know exactly what you mean by what you write. You can see what's worked and what hasn't. You find your humor funny, and your sadness tragic. Anything outside of yourself is welcome in addition to that, but your main drive should be you...otherwise, it's far too easy to get demotivated, as outside readers are fickle, and often very very busy.

Really, basic common sense (and very overlapping with Ms. Mood's list...which is not something that was planned). If you have any ideas to add, please do. If you have 3 ideas or more, consider yourself tagged.

*Photo info: This is from an artist decorated small hotel far far away, which will get it's very own post sometime soon.*

6 things, or better late than never

A long time ago, I came up with this post, in preparation to doing this meme (for which I was tagged by the inimitable Devil Mood). Then, I forgot all about the meme. Silly me.

So, according to the rules, I'm supposed to:

- Link to the person that tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Because I'm increasingly obsessed (and because that's what the photos in the previous post referred to), the theme is babies. Both preparation for babies and metaphoric babies.

1) Preparation: I have finally found my pregnancy craving. Milk. I prefer skim, or better yet, mainly skim milk with just a splash or two of chocolate milk mixed in. I don't really put enough in to add too much chocolate flavor, but it gives a bit of interest anyway, and a slightly richer color. The craving comes and goes, but has been a relative constant for a few weeks now. This would go with the first photo in that other post.

2) Metaphoric: There is so much going on in my life at the moment, which I don't blog about. For example, Tristino, my PhD proposal in training/quasi-metaphorical baby. Working on a proposal is like running a marathon through hip-high mud. I'm not sure how far I'm getting, but it seems to be coming together despite all my distractions and procrastinations. All I need to do is to get my research idea, a very abbreviated literature review, a project timeline, and a short reference list together...in no more than 5 A4 pages. In February. I'm being cautiously optimistic that I will actually achieve this. This would go with the second photo, of the bound dissertations.

3) Preparation: I have been hearing about women in about the same stage of pregnancy as I am who have had their babies already. This is far too early to be having a baby, but the babies seem to be surviving (though not without a stretch in intensive care). This is reassuring (if I gave birth now, she'd most likely survive) and frightening (there are people who give birth really really early) at the same time.

4) Metaphoric: Questions which I should be thinking about and researching, but instead I am blogging: What is everyday life, and how does internet use intersect with that? How is the internet like a city, and how is it different? How far can such metaphors be practically applied in research, and what kind of methodology would be useful for exploring such questions? How can I effectively explore any of this in 5 A4 pages?

5) Preparation: I now know why pregnant women bump into things, spill food on themselves while eating, get soaking wet while washing the dishes. It's all body image, and delusion. Because, while I know on a theoretical level that I'm bigger, I don't feel any bigger. By which I mean, if I stretch my arms out away from my body, close my eyes, and think of how I look, it's clear to me that I'm the same size that I've always been. But of course, I'm really not. Which means that I am starting to bump into things...let's just say that I now reach wherever it is that I'm going a split second before I expect to. The other day, I caught sight of myself in the reflective glass in a picture frame, and though, 'That can't be me. I look pregnant or something!' Evidence given in the photo for this post.

6) More preparation: I had some ideas in mind when I posted the three photos in that earlier post, but now, I can't remember why I posted the photo of the moses basket. Probably I was making a list of things I need to buy. Really, there's not that much that one needs to buy for a baby, leaving me with a much shorter list than I expected. Poor, poor, minimalist baby. But really, I keep looking at suggested shopping lists, and considering all of them, and really, there's not so much that is really needed.

So, who to tag? I'm tagging people from whom I haven't seen any new posts in a while, and I'm only tagging three, as a lot of those I read have done this, or something similar before, in several cases, more than once. Just because I know all three in real life doesn't make me miss their on-line presence any less. This means you, FourLegged, KB, and Gondul.

2007 Year in Review

I first saw this over at Devil Mood's place, and then afterwards at Scholiast's place. I figure now's the time to try it out myself, while I can still actually remember something about 2007. Or is is already too late?

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Now that I think about it, it's been a pretty monumental year. I experienced life's limits, both the very end (dying) and the very beginning (conception). On a more mundane level, it was pretty much business as usual.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I kept almost none of my resolutions, and so this year, purposely made fewer. So far, I'm keeping up with one out of three. I'm still optimistic about the others though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I don't believe so, but I have the idea that I'm forgetting someone. I'm getting a bit forgetful that way.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My mother. It doesn't get much closer than that, really.

5. What countries did you visit?
The States, several times. England. Holland. Sweden. The only one I hadn't been to before was Holland.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I could have used some hope at several points in 2007, and networking skills would be really useful as well.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I tend not to remember dates, more the events themselves. However, June 11th and mid-August. Why? See question #1.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I'm pretty pleased with my thesis...well, now I can see all the ways in which it could have been better. But it's by far the best thing I've done of that kind, and I'm proud of it.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not having more follow-through on my thesis, and losing momentum. I seem to be getting it back though, slowly.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. I'm generally pretty healthy. Unless pregnancy counts as an illness or injury?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmm...I'm quite fond of my iPod, but the best thing I bought? I'm not sure there was a 'best thing'. Things are just things, after all.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Thor's behavior is generally deserving of great merit. All my blogging friends who haven't abandoned me even though I've been a particularly bad correspondant.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
None that I can think of, which I think is a good thing.

14. Where did most of your money go?
It's not so much where the money went as in why wasn't there so much money to go anywhere? Answer, a lot of my year's events prevented me from working as much as I otherwise would.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Right at the moment, my two babies, the real one and the metaphoric (that one would be Tristino).

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
I used to listen to so much more music, but seem to have lost it somehow. 2007 is more a podcast year for me. But if I have to choose, I choose the Beatles, Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight. Or maybe Kate Bush, This Woman's Work.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
(a) happier, all things considered
(b) I should hope fatter, but not counting the pregnancy, probably about the same, and
(c) poorer, but richer in spirit.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing. There is always room for more writing. All kinds of writing.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
There are so many things that took time away from other things, but they all add to where I am now, so nothing.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In Vienna, wandering around Schönbrunn Palace (including hot chocolate at the Gloriette), eating, drinking and being merry.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, I fell in love, I re-fell in love, and I stayed in love. Not necessarily all at the same time.

22. What was your favourite TV programme?
No TV, so not too much to say about this one. I'm not really sure what's one, to be honest.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I normally don't have the time to hate anyone. Hate takes far too much premeditation and planning.

24. What was the best book you read?
Probably Moby Dick. I should have read this in both high school and college, but finally got around to it only in 2007.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
As mentioned previously, I need to take my music much more seriously than I have in recent years. I'm sure I found some new things, but honestly can't remember any of them.

26. What did you want and get? and 27. What did you want and not get?
I'm not sure how to answer any of these questions. I'm sure there were lots of things that I wanted, some I got and some I didn't. But surely wants don't work in this compact a format.

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
My memory is totally gone. But I really enjoyed The Golden Compass. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 39, and it was a low-key event. Nice, but low-key. No party or anything.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Immeasurably? That's a strong word. I would have preferred my mother to stage a miraculous recovery. A PhD stipend would have been nice, too. But immeasurably?

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
I go for basic, simple, and lots of black and grey. Not too casual, not too dressy. My wardrobe had been in slow decline for a while due to variable finances, but 2007 was the year where I revamped my wardrobe...a combination of all my decent clothes self-destructing at the same time, combined with the need to buy maternity clothes. So, now I have a very limited selection of clothes that I truly like.

32. What kept you sane?
I seem to stay about the same level of sane whatever happens, which is not to say that I'm ever totally sane, by the way. Talking to my brother helps profoundly. Thor helps. Friends, generally speaking.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None that I can think of. Unlike most periods of my life, I can't think of many people in my real life that I fancy either. I'm with the one I most fancy, which I appreciate.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Immigration issues. With climate/environmental issues in second place.

35. Who did you miss?
Who do I not miss? That's the real question. I miss many, many people.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Once again, so many. I wouldn't dare to single out just one.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
I sort of knew that persistence is a virtue, but I seem to relearn that one, and to need to relearn it again and again.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come/since I first left home. -Grateful Dead, Brokedown Palace. Actually, this one sums up just about every year.

Altered meme states: a holiday post

O.K., before I change them, let me repeat the rules for the original meme, which the prolifically entrancing Smiler so kindly requested. Though apparently, it's not a 'meme', but a 'hoopla', as the original 'm' word is perhaps overrated, or wrong, or maybe just a wee bit annoying. Smiler has tagged me in order that I might give my own insights on what it is to celebrate Christmas in Denmark.

The Rules Of The Hoopla
1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas.
2. Please refer to it as a ‘hoopla’ and not the dreaded ‘m’-word.
3. You have to specifically tag people when you’re done. None of this “if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged” stuff is allowed…then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you — but the more, the merrier to get this ‘hoopla’ circulating through the Blog-o-sphere.
4. Don't forget to link back to the person who tagged you.
5. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it.

Now, here are some alterations. I'm no expert on Danish Christmas, having only been in Denmark for one of them, which was rather hazy and jetlaggy (I'd only just moved to Denmark two days previously, after a month visit to California). I have been around both before and after the twenty-erm, somethingth of December (more on this in item #1), so will be blogging about the holiday season (broadly speaking) in Denmark, from Christmas preparations to the New Year, which should also help make it all a bit more timely. And I really prefer 'meme' to 'hoopla'. Not sure why that is (well, actually I am sure, but it would take a post of it's own to explain), but there you have it. Otherwise, I'm following all the rules exactly as they are.

1. As I never tire of telling the Danes, they celebrate Christmas on the wrong day. By which I mean the 24th. Because who can resist sparring over something where both sides are convinced they are right, knowing that no one will ever be converted? When a Dane says Christmas, they mean the 24th, and not the 25th. Which is 1st Christmas Day (logical as it comes before the 26th, which is 2nd Christmas Day).

2. It's not Christmas without Christmas eating events with each and every circle of one's life, events called by the name 'Christmas Lunch' (julefrokost...more on that here). They can be simple or elaborate, and can happen as early as November, or increasingly, as late as January, just because all the good eating places book up for December. My small section of my work hasn't had one, but we are to start (this January) thanks to the efforts of a colleague who successfully made a connection between access to a work julefrokost and basic human rights. And she's not really that far off, in a Danish cultural context.

3. There are as many traditions for New Year's Eve as for Christmas Eve (erm, make that Christmas). My favorite is coming to be the Queen's speech. Margrethe II isn't the only monarch to make a yearly speech, but I believe she is the only one who does so live. Which leads to some interesting gaffes (from last night, apparently, this is time not only to greet 2008, but also to bid farewell to 2006...the subtitles said 2007, but she definitely said otherwise). I have come to believe that the New Year cannot be brought in without that 6 o'clock speech, and will even go so far as to borrow a television in order to watch it.

4. The other big reason to have a television on New Year's Eve is the (in my non-Danish opinion) not very exciting Dinner for One. This is always on right before midnight. 'The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?' 'The same procedure as every year, James.' The best part is the extent to which everyone in the room (particularly the guys) knows every line, every drunken gaffe, and every interaction with the tiger-skin rug, discussing every move many seconds in advance.

5. I know of very few Danes who will allow themselves to pick a Christmas present at random; most people seem to make wish lists. Though I haven't for the past couple of years, and it seems to have worked out o.k. for me. Maybe this isn't the oddity, maybe the oddity is that my family doesn't make such lists.

6. It's all about food. I know that is true for any holiday (well, it is to me anyway), but especially for New Year's Eve. There seems to be a rule that the 31st of December is about decadence in food and drink, multiple courses, amazing desserts, alcohol in both quantity and quality. Which leads to all the effects you might imagine from such over-indulgence. This year's menu consisted of whole roasted sirloin accompanied by roasted red onions (marinated with a star anise and balsamic vinegar dressing), olive-infused mashed potatoes, parsley root salad with sun-dried tomatoes, and parsley pesto. That was just the main course. The only complaint was that I couldn't have all of the dessert (I'm of course not drinking at the moment, only tasting, so had to settle for only a spoonful of the homemade gin and tonic sorbet, which was really really good).


7. Christmas is also always about food, but the menu is pretty standardized. Roast duck or roast pork (with the skin). Various sidings. And risalamande with kirsebærsovs (erm, rice pudding with almonds topped with a cherry sauce). There should be a whole almond in the pudding, only one. The one who finds the almond gets a special 'almond present'. Apparently in some households, it's rigged so that each child gets an almond, and thus, a present. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, but I suppose I still have a few short years to think about it.

8. On the other hand, Christmas in Denmark is all about kids. Maybe this is true everywhere, but I didn't grow up with Christmas (well, I didn't grow up without it, but as a non-Christian from a non-Christian family, it's not my holiday), so I'm not sure. Here, it is. I have lots of (adult) students who say that only the kids in their family get presents for example. Which I cannot countenance...adults need presents, too! Though I find no fault if the kids get more presents, or more elaborate ones. This says nothing about Denmark, but Thor and I have sort-of accepted that we may never be able to travel outside of Denmark over Christmas again. Something about grandparents, quality time with the new granddaughter, and vague threats of mafia hit men, I'm not sure I understand exactly what it's all about, but I have an understanding of the end result. Namely, that I'll have more to say about Christmas in Denmark after next year.

9. All holiday events may be marked by the giving of really silly gag gifts. Sometimes, games are played in order to win these silly gifts. Although I no longer remember the rules, I do remember a memorable julefrokost where two of Thor's relatives (well, a relative and the girlfriend of a relative) engaged in a game-long feud over who would end up with the present that Thor and I brought (which wasn't any less silly than any other gift, but it was the biggest, and so maybe seemed more likely to not be quite as silly). But that was the exception. Normally, silly gifts can be fun. We're still working out how to use that apple slicer/peeler/corer we got at our last Christmas occasion. We have not yet found a use for the plastic-broccoli topped knives stuck in the plastic broccoli sculpture...any ideas?

10. I miss eggnog, but I am somewhat contented with having gløgg. And especially æbleskiver. No, especially the combination. Thor's mom has a gløgg party every December, with homemade everything, and it is a highlight of the season. I could describe them in depth, but I might end up having to make some myself, and the stores aren't open today. So, it's best not to risk it.

11. The third reason to have a television for New Year's Eve is of course to know when it is officially midnight. And then, to see a live broadcast of a chorus of young women who sing a couple of hymns. The same hymns every year. As far as I can see, it's an excuse for everyone to sing along (the hymns are subtitled, and after a while, I suppose one learns the tunes) drunkenly and off-key. It's also a time for unattached men to comment on which of the singers seems particularly nice-looking.

12. After 'Dinner for One', after the clocks have struck midnight and the hymns have been sung (and to some extent before), everyone goes out and lights fireworks. Everyone. Thousands of fireworks. It's the most amazing thing. Even in the suburbs, even out in the boonies. It goes on for hours. Then the next day, the newspapers report on whether it was a good or a bad year for firework related death and destruction (this year, apparently there weren't as many eye injuries as in the past). You can see something that is in fact fireworks in the photo at the top of this post. The deeper message of this photo is that I got my first 'real' camera for Christmas, and clearly don't know what to do with it. The food photo is from the same camera, but not taken by me, which might explain the obvious difference in quality.

So, that's about it. For more traditions and such, please look here. And now, to the tagging. I hereby tag the following bloggers to blog about the holiday of your choice in the form of 12 facts. You may choose to label it a hoopla or a meme, and can of course blog about Christmas or something more timely. I look forward to seeing what you come up with, Devil Mood, Scholiast, Roro, Dok Holocaust, and Vanessa.

(Really Belated) Birthday 43 Things, Part 3

This was the first meme I ever did, way back on my birthday 2 years ago. I repeated it last year, and this year...well, I was in the midst of a not blogging very much phase then and didn't get around to doing it. So, consider it my birthday for purposes of reading this. To get you in the festive mood, this post is accompanied by photos of this year's birthday celebrations. The top photo was my birthday breakfast (without the bread, which was probably warming in the oven). The bottom one shows the path to the breakfast table. The Danish flags you can see indicate that there is a birthday going on.

First the items I have completed from last years list. Actually, I haven't done that many of them, but a few, namely:

27) decide what I would like to do a PhD in. Not that I could quite tell you at the moment what that thing is. But it's the thing I want to do a PhD in anyway.

29) See more of California. Not that there is nothing more to see, but after all my travels this past year, I believe that I've hit all the highlights.

And of course, 41) decide the whole kid/no kid debate before menopause has clearly been sorted.

Which leaves a lot more to be done. Of course there are also several that I'm closer to achieving...I do think I'm more patient (sort of), less procrastinative (in a couple of very small areas), more confident (at times), and with better Danish (actually most of the time, but there are still language exams I want to pass). But none of those are quite where they could be...yet. So they stay. After adding in new goals to replace those which are done (new ones are in bold), the results are....

Before I die, I would like to...
1) climb a mountain.
2) start a successful vegetable garden.
3) continue to improve my Danish.
4/5/6) visit all the continents...at this point, this means South America, Antarctica, and Africa (I was in Morocco, but for less than a day, so it doesn't count).
7) own my own house.
8) have a job where I earn enough that I can afford a mortgage.
9/10/11) have articles or papers published in at least 5 academic journals, 5 large-circulation publications, and the Weekly World News
12) retire before I'm 80.
13) learn how to build websites by building my own.
14) learn how to take professional quality photographs.
15) get a tattoo.
16) make my own cross-stitch designs.
17) learn to meditate.
18) live to see and enjoy my 101st birthday.
19/20) travel around India and China.
21) learn to speak and write Mandarin Chinese.
22) see at least part of the world from a inside a hotair baloon.
23) stop procrastinating so much.
24) get into better physical shape.
25) find a job that I look forward to going to almost every day.
26) complete a PhD.
27) get a PhD position which is worth accepting.
28) radiate self-confidence.
29) learn to scuba dive
30) see more of the US.
31) stop worrying so much about all sorts of things.
32/33) start and successfully run my own business/consulting firm.
34) learn to weave cloth on a floor loom.
35) earn enough money to hire someone to clean my house for me.
36) learn how to network at social events.
37) learn to salsa, and/or samba.
38) learn to make clam chowder.
39/40) read José Saramago and Peter Høeg in the original.
41) survive life with a newborn
42) have more patience with people.
43) appreciate how many things that I wanted to do could not be included here because I've already done them.

When in doubt, do a meme

A short while (rapidly becoming a not so short while), the inimitable Devil Mood tagged me to do a meme where I get to describe qualities of a good writer or of good writing. I must admit, this is a difficult one for me to do for some reason. But it's an important question. And the honest answer is, I haven't the slightest idea.

Although, if I think about it, it seems simple enough. Good writing is the writing that I as a reader want to keep reading. I don't generally bother to finish any book or story that doesn't start off well. Or an academic article for that matter. So, the start is important. After that, there must be something to keep it going. It can be a spectacular plot. It can be a particularly well-formed character. It can be an idea, a concept that makes me curious, or inspires me. But if it only has one of those things, I may finish it, but probably won't feel it as an example of good writing.

As for the question of what is a good writer, that's one I've struggled with since childhood. I have the idea from my past as an English lit major that good writing is where each and every word of the writing is thought out and rich with symbolism. I'm referring here to fiction writing, but the same holds for non-fiction. In addition, I have an idea that 'real' writers are compulsive about their writing, that they must write in order to feel whole, which means that they write both consistently and profusely.

So, to summarize so far, in my definition, good writers write compulsively, and produce deeply meaningful texts. All the time. Which is to say that my definition of what makes a good writer is not very realistic. But I've battled with it nonetheless, and for a long time.

If I were to make a new definition for myself (and I suppose that I am, now), how would it be? To some extent a good writer is someone who strives to produce good writing (see definition of this above). But perhaps it isn't anything that prescriptive. Maybe, just maybe, when one writes, then one is a writer. It seems quite simple really. Writing creates the writer. The perfectionist within me gnaws at me to add to that, but really, I don't think I should. Beyond that, from writer to good writer, may also be subjective. If I like it, then it's good writing to me. If I've written it, and I like it, then I'm a good writer. Facile but true.

As this is a meme, I should tag some fine folk. I don't often tag, but I would like to see what Dok Holocaust has to say for himself. And FourLegged as well. I look forward!

Sometimes, I can stall on a meme...for a long, long time

It occurs to me, as I start to find some sort of a strange groove with posting everyday, that well, there are a lot of things that I've talked about posting about, that I then haven't, well, posted about. Including this meme. In this case, I got the entrancing Vanessa to ask me 5 questions. In turn, if you would like, please tell me in the comments, and I will come up with 5 questions individually tailored to you. It will be clear from the nature of some of the following questions that I've left this meme undone for far too long.

1. You're originally from California, what do you miss most about home?
I don't miss an awful lot, to tell the truth. This doesn't mean that I don't find things when I'm there that I don't have elsewhere. This includes of course seeing my family, going to my favorite bookstores, restaurants, eating certain foods. Seeing some sights. The nature is so varied, and taking road trips is so easy. But when I'm back in Denmark, I don't miss too much especially.

2. On the flip side, what do you like the most about being an expat living abroad?
I find this a hard question to answer, probably because I've been an expat for too long. At first, it was just cool to live abroad, which had been one of my dreams. The new language, the new culture, new food, were all exciting. I still find those things interesting, but I don't feel like an expat. Rather, it's just my life to live outside where I'm from.

3. Last year you visited a number of countries, including China, what travels do you have planned for this year?
Well, the year is almost over, and the answer was California (several times), and Yorkshire for a week. I'll be in the Netherlands for a quick weekend later this month, and in Austria over Christmas. So, some nice travel, but not as much as was the case the past couple of years. I expect the level of travelling will stay lower for the next few years, and then gradually pick back up, circumstances permitting.

4. In the past you've mentioned that you enjoy doing cross stitch, when did you begin this hobby and what are your favorite type of items to work on?
I didn't start that early actually, maybe about a dozen or so years ago. Which is interesting as my mom did needlepoint and cross-stitch (and many other crafts) for as long as I could remember. Once I started on it though, I fell into it with some degree of passion. I go for long periods without doing anything (I'm in a cross-stitch free period now), and then periods (usually where I have a bit more time) where I can work on things for literally days at a time. I like patterns that are elaborate, or which have lots of elements, and linen with really tiny holes, so that I worry about going blind from the effort.

5. Hows the thesis coming along?
Now, this shows how long it's taken to do this meme, as my thesis was turned in in May, and defended in August. It went really well, but sadly has been followed by a near-total writer's block for anything even remotely academic. But I'm slowly getting over that. Or, if I answer this with reference to my next thesis (well technically dissertation at that point), I can say with confidence that it is still in larval stage, but that I'm sure it will eventually become strong and powerful. But certainly not right away.

So now, it's your turn...I look forward to being the question asker!

*Photo: Redwoods, of course. I wouldn't say I miss them, but I visit them whenever they're nearby.*

8 thoughts on travel, related to me me me

This comes courtesy of the superbly inimitable Greg. In light of all my recent travels, I'll be doing this one with a travelling spin.

But first, the obligatory fine print:

The Rules are:
- We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
- Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog..

1) I never thought I would say this, but I am honestly of the opinion that I've been travelling too much recently, particularly air travel. I am tired of flights, especially flights lasting longer than 5 hours.

2) I would admit to how much of the past 12 months have been spent out of Denmark, but it's a scary amount. It's also long enough that I worry about my visa status. It won't be a problem now, but might be when my visa is next up for renewal.

3) I used to not notice jetlag so much, in fact I was pretty cavalier about it, but on my trip in December, it was simply interminable and not fun, and that pattern seems to be continuing. I can't tell if the jetlag is actually worse, or if it just seems worse, perhaps in combination with #1.

4) On this last trip, I came close to doubling my life stats for missed flights, by which I mean missing my second ever flight. The first one was many years ago, from London Stanstead to Lisbon. The silver lining was that I gave myself an extra morning in Cambridge. At that time, I was working at a place called Cambridge School, and amused myself (if not my colleagues) by calling in and saying that I was 'in Cambridge...but the wrong one' and would therefore miss a day of work.

5) That Stanstead to Lisbon flight was missed through my own negligence (well, and letting myself be persuaded that there was time for that end-of-vacation lunch near Hyde Park). This last almost missed flight was due to a late previous flight, combined with increasingly surreal security at Heathrow (oh, and have I mentioned that I'm also tired of having to take my shoes off to go through airport security?), which led to me doing my very best O.J. Simpson impression through Terminal 4 to get to my connecting flight, which amazingly, I caught.

6) I do wonder about the political correctness of refering to those Hertz ads. Speaking of which, as I have never known anything about American football, it was only during the overshadowing trial that I realized that O.J. Simpson had been a football player. Since the Hertz commercial was all about how fast he could run, I had grown up assuming that he was a track star, maybe a sprinter.

7) I've always been of the opinion that the more stuff of sentimental value in your checked luggage, the more likely it is that it will disappear in transit never to be seen again. In real life, I have never had a bag lost by an airline for more than a few hours. Until now. I am still waiting for two suitcases, and have been waiting for almost two days now. In those cases are things like my mother's quite extensive collection of costume jewelry, and what for me amounts to an entire handbag collection. Nothing that will cause my life to end if it doesn't get found, but still, I consider my biggest travel superstition to be on its way to being realized. Of course, I'm still hopeful, but not too much.

8) I'm anxious to put a photo to this post, except, well I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my camera was in my carry on luggage. The bad news (for me, possibly good news for you, dear reader) is that the cable to connect my camera to my computer is in one of the checked bags. So, this will have to be photo free. I almost said 'visuals free', but that's not right. At least, I hope this post can be viewed.

O.K., and now I'm supposed to tag 8 people. I would, but I won't, not because of any aversion to tagging (though that has been known to happen), but more because almost everyone I read has done this one, and fairly recently at that. If you haven't done it, though, and would like to, then consider yourself tagged, and I look forward to finding out some things about you.

***Update, 20 July...for all who expressed concern, the bags are back, one a few days after this post, and another one the day before yesterday. Interestingly, some kind person or people in baggage handling decided that I was clearly becoming too fond of material possessions, and liberated me from the box with my mom's costume jewelry, as well as one or two other small consumer items of little value. All things considered, it's o.k., and sort of fits in with that part of my summer....***

Back with a passion, back with a meme

This is courtesy of Devil Mood, who has picked up a meme, the instructions of which are:

You're supposed to pick up the book you're reading right now, go to page 123 (or the last page of the book if it doesn't get that far) and copy the 5th paragraph (or the last paragraph, in case there isn't one).

I considered using a passage from The Hypercomplex Society, but there were no paragraphs on page 123, just a section header. Then I pondered something from The Practice of Everyday Life, but it has long paragraphs, and I couldn't bring myself to enter all that text. But then I remembered a book that I have been periodically reading parts of for the whole process of creating Tristino, and which is a bit more accessible. Page 123 even addresses revision, the stage where I am at now (pretty much). Here it is, from Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day:

"Your zero draft can be described as the pure outpouring of prose that just comes. Revision involves making important rational choices: of what stance to take, of speaking voice, of words and sounds, of kinds of argument, and of what is to be included or excluded. As you reread your draft, you will make such choices at different levels, from the overall shape of your argument to where the commas go. In the earliest drafts of your chapters you probably wrote as if talking to yourself - how you felt about your subject; your own slant on it; your questions, concerns, and irritation with it; your attempts to wrestle it to the ground. At the revision stage of your thesis you will write much more explicitly for your audience."

This is not exactly how I write a draft...I like my drafts to resemble the final version as much as possible, though I have over time developed a system where all the talking to myself is in a different color so that I can ignore it when I don't need it. But that doesn't make the advice here any less useful. I am looking for that refinement of thought in my academic life, in opposition to other areas of my life, where I'm striving much more for the zero draft, that 'pure outpouring'.

So, that's the back with a meme part. As for the back with a passion, really, there is passion, but I can't quite get it all together in one post at the moment. Passion for my recent long road trip in the states, passion for all the future possibilities that may or may not be, passion for getting text on screen. It will happen soon enough.

As for the photo, Groucho Marx famously said, 'Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.' He may have had a point, but I claim that no book could be as photogenic as a rug-colored dog. (Photo courtesy of FourLegged).

Sunday morning meta-meme

What the House of Fortune might look like if it were a real house.
The always scintillating Scholiast has tagged me to answer the following questions about blogs. As I'm studying blogs, does this post count as qualitative research?

Do you like the look and contents of your blog?
I am much more pleased with the look of my blog now that I've removed that blue gunk around the edges...basically, I've decided that I want a clean space with a focus on content. With that in mind, it's o.k. The content itself is variable. When I went through all my posts to label them, I found that there was a time, around May of this year, where I was posting really cool stuff. I'm not on a roll like that now. On the other hand, there were only a handful of posts that made me cringe and consider deleting them...and nothing so cringeworthy that they were actually deleted. I'd say that's pretty good.

Does your family know about your blog?
The main ones, yes. Both my parents read my blog. That guy on the top of the link list (the one making the whole thing unalphabetical) is my brother. Other relatives, I'm not sure if they know about it, but I would imagine not.

Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?
I tell all my friends about my blog. A couple read it. Most others don't, and I would imagine haven't.

Do you read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? Or do you try and discover new blogs?
Yes, and sometimes yes. I have been lax in following any blog which is not on my link list, which I have been too lazy to update, but I do try to visit commenters when I can. I also try and discover new blogs, when I feel I have the time, but that's not always. It occurs to me that I've gone completely off the 'next blog' button. I used to use it compulsively, but I haven't in months.

Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example...
Uh...I think it does, but an example? Well, I do like posting something which I feel is interesting and/or funny and/or well-written. And funny comments, or those which express just the right mood, or make just the right point, make my day.

What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you have a traffic counter?
The number of visitors means something, but not so much. I like high numbers, but the number of comments means a lot more...what's the point of having visitors if they hide in a corner and don't add anything? I do have a counter, and I do check it regularly, but it doesn't say too much to me. Though it has confirmed my suspicion that people do not, as a general rule, read blogs at the weekends.

Do you imagine what other bloggers look like?
This is an interesting question. A lot of the people whose blogs I read have their photos on-line, so I don't have to imagine. Otherwise, I suppose I don't. If bloggers want me to know what they look like, they'll show me eventually. I do, however, wonder how other bloggers imagine I would look, based on the photos that are there of me. As in, 'Do I look big in this profile pic?'

Do you think blogging has any real benefits?
To whom? To me, yes, it's great fun. To the work I could be doing otherwise, no. To friends I could be spending time with instead, no. To the world as a whole, not sure. It depends on what action is taken as a result of blogging.

Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone world community separated from the real world?
No, I think it's part of the real world set somewhat apart from the rest of the real world by a large virtual Japanese folding screen. People may know each other, and then know each other's blogs. Or they may know each other as bloggers, and then meet. It's not a total distinction.

Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?
I don't read political blogs, but not because they scare me, or because I'm avoiding them, but because I get my political information from other sources. It could be that I just haven't found the right political blog, though. Any suggestions?

Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
Depends who's doing the criticizing. I criticize my blog regularly. Others criticizing my blog is o.k., if it's done in a polite way. Actually, I'd rather have a thought-out criticism than a non-thought-out compliment.

Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog if you died?
Nope. I suppose that someone would update my blog in the comments, to inform those I only know through blog about my demise. The blog itself would just remain until deleted for whatever reason.

Which blogger has had the greatest impression on you?
Many, many, many, for different reasons. I couldn't possibly list them all. Perhaps the most salient one at the moment, as I'm trying to blog more often than I have been, is the person who mentioned, in his two year anniversary post, but sort of in passing, that he had written, and published, 'a little more than 3500 posts'. That impressed me. And intimidated me. And, to be honest, freaked me the hell out.

Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?
None of them? Well, a lot of those I read I find connections with in little ways, but if someone was too similar then I wouldn't read them...difference is far more interesting.

Name a song you want to listen to.
The c.d. which is being overplayed in our house at the moment is Nikka Costa's 'can'tneverdidnothin''. She is the current household Rock Mama. I suppose I'd want to listen to the title track. Or most of the others.

Tag some people.
Do I have to? Oh, o.k., then. I'm tagging some bloggers I know in real life. Fourlegged, it's time you posted again. James, I eagerly await your answers. And Ms. Black Scorpio, you know this means you, too.

My paper, now with added brevity

This time, a random Lisbon photo, from the Cidade Universitária metro station. As a six-word story, it reads 'Not Athenian, not Greek. World citizen.'
There's a meme inspired by this project going around where you get to write a story in exactly six words. As I'm editing my paper at the moment (no, it's not taking me longer to edit the thing than it took to write it, I've just been taking more breaks), I've decided to rewrite my efforts into six words. Here goes...

Blogs communicate community. Corporate blogs inform.

Yes, there you have it. The other 7000 or so words, that's just detail. Although actually, this would make for much more concise and elegant abstract than the one I've got currently.* Any comments? Hopefully, it wasn't too boring.

*Here's the real abstract, at somewhat more than 6 words. Feel free to skip this section. (Update: To those who have e-mailed me asking to see the paper, I'm not so sure. Although I did offer, I find that I'm a bit squeamish about sending out my baby to people whom I've never before heard of in any way. If I know you as a reader of/commenter on my blog, then your chances are somewhat higher.)

The discourse of the corporate blog is examined, using Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory as a theoretical base. Through a preliminary review of discourses of communication and an analysis of selected blog review/critique sites, it is shown that personal and corporate blogs operate under different discourses, which lead to antagonism when the borders overlapping the two blog styles arise. These findings can have practical implications for corporate blogs and corporations which utilize or are considering utilizing the blog medium for communicating with the public.

Questions answered, meme completed

To begin with the answer to a very important question...can I work a random photo from China into every post I write? Answer, yes, I can...and there are still a lot of photos left...this one is hotpot, a concoction of chili oil, chilis, sichuan pepper...it has a reputation for being so intensely spicy that none can actually eat it, hence the fish soup thing in the middle (so we'd have something to eat after all)...the idea is to drop stuff in it, sort of a Sichuan fondue and then fish it out, dip it in sesame oil, then eat it. Sadly, we didn't find it that hot...don't get me wrong on this, it was hot...but not so hot that I couldn't eat it. I was somewhat disappointed.

Second question, this one from Chloe, who asked 'where have you been Kimananda?' Answer: my life has been hotting up, not unlike a Sichuan hotpot (or maybe hotter). I'm working every teaching hour God (and my director) sends, studying, reading, and thinking about my project-to-be, re-writing my last project, my impending thesis. I'm trying the whole time management thing, and it's going well...except, I can't seem to work in actually writing. Yes, in all my activity, I've lost writing. Academic writing, blog writing, writing. But now, it's slowly coming back. I hope. Time will tell. In the meantime, I offer you, dear reader, a small meme. It's going around so fast that it's hard to tell whom to acknowledge, but how about Cathy? Or Scholiast? Or Morose? Or, of course, Chloe.



ARE YOU:
1. A Cuddler? In general, not too much, but yes when I'm in a relationship with a cuddler. Right now, I'm in relationship with a cuddler, so I'm a cuddler. It's nice.
2. A morning person? I can be. I don't like to get up too early, but once I'm up, I'm generally pretty awake.
3. Are you a perfectionist? Yes, in a big way. It's a defining feature, in a warped, linked with chronic procrastination way.
4. An only child? Nope.
5. Catholic: Nope.
6. In your pajamas? Nope, fully dressed except for shoes.
7. Currently suffering from a broken heart? Not at all.
8. Okay styling other people's hair? I am no good with hair. I don't have the coordination for it.
9. Left handed? Nope.
10. Addicted to MySpace? A confession: I've never really checked it out. It doesn't sound very interesting.
11. Shy around the opposite gender? I'm fairly shy in general, though years of teaching has given me the gift of not always appearing so. But I'm not more shy around any particular gender.
12. Loud? I can be very loud if I'm in conversation. Otherwise, not so much.

DO YOU:
12-and-a-half. Bite your nails? Mainly my cuticles. It can get pretty gross. I can plot my close relationships based on how they react to this.
13. Get paranoid at times? Yes. For example, if I've had too much coffee. I'm very sensitive to caffeine.
14. Currently regret something that you have said/done? Not at the moment. I have that shy person feeling that I must have said something wrong in any conversation, but I don't take that feeling too seriously.
15. Curse frequently when you get mad? On occasion.
16. Enjoy country music? Not in general, but like every genre, there is some good country out there. It's the natural genre for really funny lyrics.
17. Enjoy jazz music? This makes me think of a former colleague who passionately hated jazz...I believe his exact definition was 'musical wanking'. I'm sure there's some good jazz in the world, but I don't know enough about it to say what that good jazz is.
18. Enjoy smoothies? They're o.k., but often not quite as good as I would expect them to be.
19. Enjoy talking on the phone? I used to a lot, and I still do on occasion, but only with people that I already know quite well. Otherwise, I'll go to great lengths to not have to call people. Except for work. I like phone interviews, they're fun.
20. Have a lot to learn? Don't we all?
21. Have a pet? Nope, and I would like one. A dog. Or barring that, some goldfish.
22. Have a tendency to fall for the "wrong" person? No, with a couple exceptions, I've fallen for some pretty nice, smart, funny, cute, sexy guys.
23. Have all your grandparents died? Yes.
24. Have at least one sibling? See #4.
25. Have been told that you are smart? Yes, many times. Often accompanied by some statement about my potential, and living up to the same. It drives me mad...but there's a point in there too, that I'm trying to face.
26. Have had a broken bone? Nope.
27. Have Caller I.D. on your phone? Well, I can see the number of who's calling, so I suppose I must have. It's nothing I set up.

HAVE YOU:
28. Changed a diaper? Many, in my years as a babysitter.
29. Changed a lot over the past year? I am in a continual state of change, I hope for the better.
30. Had friends who have never seen your natural hair color? You can see my natural hair color in my profile pic. Close friends, and some family have seen me with dyed and/or bleached hair, but that was a long time ago.
31. Had surgery? Nope.
32. Killed anyone? Not that I know of.
33. Had your haircut within the last week? Haircuts are a prime procrastination item for me. It's been a while.

LAST PERSON WHO:
1. Slept in the bed beside you? Danish Man.
2. Saw you cry?: I don't remember. However, seeing as I cry at the sad parts of any book, wherever I am at the time, it was probably a trainload of people I don't know.
3. Went to the movies with you? Danish Man.
4. You went to the mall with?: Mall? Do we have malls in Denmark? Oh, yes...I popped into a mall before a seminar about a month ago. With two school colleagues.
5. You went to dinner with? Ms. Black Scorpio.
6. You talked to on the phone? Uh...Danish Man...he's about the only one I actually talk to on the phone. To everyone else, I am more likely to text.
7. Said 'I love you' to you and meant it? My brother.
8. Broke your heart? Uh...not sure actually. Whomever it was, it healed.
9. Made you laugh? My brother. He's funny.

WOULD YOU RATHER?
1. Pierce your nose or tongue? I've long wanted to pierce my nose. Probably will never get around to it.
2. Be serious or be funny? Both, preferably at the same time.
3. Drink whole or skim milk? Hmmm, it depends. Skim milk in coffee, cream over cereal.
4. Die in a fire or drown? Neither. If someone held a gun to my head, and made me choose, I'd choose the gun...much less drawn out than fire or drowning.
5. Spend time with your parents or enemies? Parents, obviously.

ABOUT YOU!
1. What time is it? 11:35 p.m.
2. Name? On this forum, kimananda (with a small 'k', though I'm pretty inconsistent about this).
3. Nickname(s)? Kim
4. Where were you born? California.
5. What is your birthdate? 28 August, too many years ago to remember.
6. What do you want? Right now, a bit of time, and a stipend to study without all this work malarkey. While I'm requesting things, I'll add health to those who are unhealthy (you know who you are), and maybe a house in Christianshavn.
7. Where do you want to live? Well, Christianshavn, overlooking a canal. I'd also like weekend homes in San Francisco, London, Lisbon, and maybe Chengdu or Beijing.
8. How many kids do you want? This is a subject under negotiation at the moment, but not yet decided. Maybe one, maybe not. Not more than one, I don't think.

Birthday 43 Things: Take Two

A year ago today, I completed a meme for which I had been tagged by the inimitable Daphnewood. It seemed like a good birthday thing to do then, and it seems like an equally good birthday thing to update it now. The idea is to think of (that's the hard part), and then list (that's the easy part) 43 things I'd like to do before I die.

First, here are the things from the original list that I've now done, with appropriate commentary:

1) learn the words to the Danish version of 'Happy Birthday' (there are several verses.) I've learned the first verse, and have decided that this is, in fact, enough, thank you very much.
2) get my Portuguese back to where it was. In July, it was back pretty much to where it was. It may not be there in a few months, but I know I can get it back whenever the opportunity arises.
22) be family reunified (this relates to my visa status in Denmark). Done, and even blogged about...now let's see if I can keep it for a while.
32) learn to knit. Yep, I did it. And I'm saddened to report that it was boring, and that I won't be doing it again.
37) learn to make kung-pao chicken. Did I mention that I took a Sichuan cooking class while in Chengdu?
41) see Citizen Kane. I'm not quite sure what the fuss is about this film, but I can honestly say that I didn't not enjoy it...which is to say that it was o.k. Of course, I already knew the 'secret' of Rosebud, which may have been a factor.

Several things I've done in part, or even in large part - I am procrastinating less, and worrying less, and sometimes I even have more patience with people. My Danish is getting better all the time, and I've seen a bit more of China, but I'd like to do more with all of these things, so they're still on the list. And if knitting is so boring, then why crochet? So I'm taking that off of the list, too. So, here is my updated 43 things to do before I die (new items in bold). Wish me luck.

Before I die, I would like to...
1) climb a mountain.
2) start a successful vegetable garden.
3) continue to improve my Danish.
4/5/6) visit all the continents...at this point, this means South America, Antarctica, and Africa (I was in Morocco, but for less than a day, so it doesn't count).
7) own my own house.
8) have a job where I earn enough that I can afford a mortgage.
9/10/11) have articles or papers published in at least 5 academic journals, 5 large-circulation publications, and the Weekly World News
12) retire before I'm 80.
13) learn how to build websites by building my own.
14) learn how to take professional quality photographs.
15) get a tattoo.
16) make my own cross-stitch designs.
17) learn to meditate.
18) live to see and enjoy my 101st birthday.
19/20) travel around India and China.
21) learn to speak and write Mandarin Chinese.
22) see at least part of the world from a inside a hotair baloon.
23) stop procrastinating so much.
24) get into better physical shape.
25) find a job that I look forward to going to almost every day.
26) complete a PhD.
27) decide what I would like to do a PhD in.
28) radiate self-confidence.
29/30) see more of California and the rest of the US.
31) stop worrying so much about all sorts of things.
32/33) start and successfully run my own business/consulting firm.
34) learn to weave cloth on a floor loom.
35) earn enough money to hire someone to clean my house for me.
36) learn how to network at social events.
37) learn to salsa, and/or samba.
38) learn to make clam chowder.
39/40) read José Saramago and Peter Høeg in the original.
41) decide the whole kid/no kid debate before menopause.
42) have more patience with people.
43) appreciate how many things that I wanted to do could not be included here because I've already done them.

So, now it's your turn. Yes, I am talking about you. You don't even have to wait for your birthday. I look forward to reading your list.

5 Philosophical Choices

I asked Simple American to ask me some questions, and he came up with some good ones. And tough ones. I'm a bit scared of these questions to tell the truth. But I've done my best.

1. Your life ends suddenly. St. Peter greets you and realizes your demise was an error. To make up for it you are allowed to assume any life in the world. Who is your choice and explain why him or her?

But what about the person whose life I assume? Why would I want to take someone else's life just because of someone else's error? In fact, maybe that's why I ended up in this situation, though I can't imagine that someone would choose my life if given this choice. I could say I'd become someone who is truly evil and who has harmed many people, so that I could change their actions, but I don't know if it would work; I have the idea that much evil and cruelty is done by committee. Or I could become a sublimely talented working writer or photographer, but then the writing or photography would go with them. No, there's nothing for it, I'd just have to be myself again. If the powers that be could give me someone else's life, then they can give me my own back as well.

2. The mail comes and you recieve an envelope that allows you to take a round trip flight to anyplace in the world. Where do you go?

There are so many places that could be here. But the element of surprise is missing. So, I'd start by getting a good atlas. I'd look through the atlas, and make a numbered list of all the places I'd most like to go to. It would include Antarctica, various places in China, India, and Brazil, the Inca Trail, Mozambique, Tahiti, the Galapagos...and potentially many more. I'd focus on the far away places that I'm less likely to get to. Then I'd put numbers in a hat, and draw one. The place listed with that number is where I'd go.

3. You are given a remote control like Adam Sandler in "Click". This lets you go anywhere in your past and future and change one thing. You have one use of the device. How do you use it?

Now I've seen how this works in films, and it isn't pretty. So, I honestly don't think I'd use it. I like where my life has gone, and I presume that I'll feel this way also in the future. But if I must, purely for the sake of argument...I really can't think of anything. Maybe I'd go back to when I was a teenager, but just to see what I was like, not to change anything. It's like looking at old journals...I feel very indulgent of the young me.

4. Fate has decided you will be a heroine and that your efforts can save millions of lives. You are allowed to take along one person to guard your back. Who do you choose? You may select fictional heroes from literature, mythology, and film as well as historical persons.

Well, this depends on how I will be saving these lives. I can't see myself in an action hero mode, so I must be saving them through ingenuity and creativity, with a smidgeon of chutzpah. However, I would like someone who is more scientific and more able to deal with complicated mechanical problems. I'd therefore chose Richard Feynman. I suspect I'd find him annoying, and in between solving problems, I'd have to keep him from chasing all the enemy women, and alerting the opposition to our presence by loud bongo playing...but he could pick the locks, and provide a focused approach allowing us to find deceptively easy solutions to difficult problems.

5. There is a path you can find and it forks three ways. One way leads to never ending love with the perfect person for you. The next leads to a cure for cancer. The last path provides a means to end starvation. The earth starts to shake and you realize that you can only take one path. You must take a path or you will die here. The reality sets in that these paths will never be found in your life time. Which path do you choose?

Well, I would certainly not go for neverending love. I have learned and grown from all the ending loves that I have had, and am happy for the love that I currently have. When I consider the other choices, I find myself becoming very, very over-rational. I find myself thinking that the problem with both of these is that the solution would lead to a worsening of other problems brought about by over-population. So, why choose either? But that's just cynical. So, I'd chose the path to end starvation...which could be through dealing with population issues. If it's solely about addressing inequality in distribution of resources, I'm fine with that, too.

O.K., if you'd like to join in and get your own philosophical questions, here are the rules...

The Official Interview Game Rules (copied to be passed on)

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying “interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person’s will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Shuffle this post: in imitation of a music blog

I read so many posts by so many people which are given musical themes, songs of the day, favorite lyrics. And I always wonder if it is something I should be doing. And then I dismiss that thought; my musical tastes are mine, and no one else's. They're eclectic, a bit dated, sometimes obscure, or just random...and did I mention they're mine? Why would anyone else want or need them? On the other hand, I am determined to blog more while I have the time, and have nothing much to blog about. But, I have music. So, it's logical really. Added to that the fact that commenters are for the most part mysteriously absent at the weekends, and well, this is ideal. By the time anyone comes by, there'll be something more interesting to comment on. You can hope, at least.

So, I've done the obvious; I set Phiggy, my beloved iPod, to shuffle, and wrote down the first twenty results...I meant to do ten, but this is kind of addicting. I give them to you here, with some minor commentary, quoted lines, and so on. Feel free to shake your head in misbelief. You'll notice I'll be shaking my head too, on occasion...I've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff, from a variety of sources, and some of it's a bit odd. It's listed artist, song, album.

1) Pedro Abrunhosa & Os Bandemónio, Se Eu Fosse um Dia o Teu Olhar, Tempo - I once gravely offended a Portuguese acquaintance by referring to Pedro Abrunhosa as Portugal's answer to Vanilla Ice. That being said, I have far too much by him. It's a legacy of going to the Feira da Ladra often when I lived in Lisbon, and, well, buying lot of cd's, for the most part much poppier stuff than I would ever put up with in English. This song is quite catchy though, I think, but I am still shaking my head.

2) Jorge Palma, Viagem na Palma da Mão, Dá-me Lume-O Melhor de Jorge Palma - I've stopped shaking my head. He's the coolest, and I get very annoyed that I don't know anyone else who is at all impressed, or even interested. Perhaps because this is lyrics-driven music, and no one around me understands what he's singing. I've gone for months on end listening to just him. Because he's that good.

3) Toy Dolls, Blue Suede Shoes, Dig that Groove Baby - I am not sure why I have this, and suspect that it was put there by someone else (Thor uses my iPod sometimes, and he's added his own playlist). I do like the Dolls, but they're a bit tedious after a while, by which I mean about mid-song (except I've Got Asthma, which is just classic).

4) Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Alison (Live), Armed Forces (Bonus Tracks) - I have a habit of not liking the big, big hit by any given artist that I otherwise like a lot. But this works live, even though it's not my favorite studio song. I am clearly in the house alone, as Thor would request a song change after about a note of Elvis. Actually, when I am given the 'honor' of chosing the music, it's with the mandate of 'no 80's, and no Portuguese music'. Which puts a bit of a damper on things...well, my formative musical years were the 80's, and I bought a lot of cd's when I was in Portugal. It's not my fault.

5) Woody Allen, Mechanical Objects, Standup Comic - this is a recent acquisition. He makes being messed about by an technologically advanced elevator in retaliation for having beaten up a disrespectful television a perfectly natural occurence. You can simply not top it. He is master of the absurd.

6) They Might Be Giants, Ana Ng, Lincoln - I can't say I know the lyrics to many songs, but to this one I do. 'I don't want the world, I just want your half'. And I've spent more time than I should admit forming a mental picture of the opening lines ('make a hole with a gun perpendicular/ to the name of this town in a desktop globe/exit wound in a foreign nation/shows us the home of the one this was written for'...don't tell me you haven't thought about this one, too...no really, don't tell me).

7) Giuseppe Verdi, Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo cuore, La Traviata - yes, it's true. I don't make playlists. I just play it all together in a big jumbled heap. I've been told that in this way, I destroy the pleasure of listening to opera. To which I respond with a very well-thought out, 'Tough. It's how I like it.' I know nothing about opera, really, other than the ones I've actually seen. I've seen this one more than once, but I couldn't at all tell you what's happening in this part.

8) Monty Python, Sit on my Face, The Final Rip-Off - no words need be said. A classic song by icons of comedy.

9) Richard Wagner, Wie hehr erkenn ich unsrer Liebe Wesen!, Lohengrin - I've never seen it, know nothing about it, and the soprano is a bit weak. I'm slowly shaking my head.

10) Moloko, Sing it Back, Chillout Mix - the concept of 'chillout music' is palpably boring. That being said, this compilation is often background music when we have people over for dinner, and there's some very listenable stuff on it. Like this.

11) Dan Turèll & Halfdan E., untitled, Åbningstiden - Dan Turèll was a hippie author/poet/I don't know what else. I have this cd and another, each one being spoken word with a band backing. His Danish is very clear, and I really should listen to it more. What I understand of it, it's so funny. But there's a lot I don't get. Like this one, for instance. Could he be...talking on the phone? Your guess is as good as mine.

12) Rob Wasserman (with Edie Brickell and Jerry Garcia), Zillionaire, Trios - Jerry Garcia died the month before I moved to Portugal. I was very sad, not because I was especially a deadhead (although I liked the idea of it), but because I harbored a desire to see the Dead in Europe. Edie Brickell I'm fairly ambivalent about, but I like her voice. This is an otherwise nothing special album, but Zillionaire just works somehow.

13) Tracy Chapman, Why?, Tracy Chapman - Yes, why, exactly? I'm not sure I should admit to this, but I am shaking my head. I truly liked this album when it came out, but I don't feel it as I used to. Well, I should reword that. I still like it musically, but the lyrics just sound overstated.

14) Cat Stevens, Maybe You're Right, Mona Bone Jackon - this may be the artist I've liked for the most time, ever since seeing Harold and Maude (my early favorite film, with Cat Stevens soundtrack) when I was about 12. It may hold the record for the artist whom I've sung along with the most while driving (back in my California driving days). I'm in awe by the fact that he spent so much time searching for faith...and then actually found what he was looking for. It's not the answer I would have chosen, but I'm impressed anyway.

15) Bob Dylan, I'll Keep it with Mine, Biograph - 'How long can you search for what is not lost?' You can always count on Bob to come up with the important questions. 'I can't help it if you think I'm odd.' Yes, that's about right. Hey, nice harmonica there, Bob. I had pictures of him in my school locker in high school.

16) John Lennon, Instant Karma!, The John Lennon Collection - I can't explain John Lennon. He spouts platitudes. 'We all shine on, everyone.' What does that mean anyway? And yet, I like it. It's pleasant. And, sad as I am to admit it, pleasant is not bad. I'm clearly getting very, very old.

17) David Bowie, We are the Dead, Diamond Dogs - My teenage goal was to have all of his albums. I started buying them when they started being released on cd by Ryko disk, and then lost interest, or maybe ran out of funds, I don't remember which, after this one. 'You're dancing where the dogs decay, defecating ecstacy', not as pleasant as John Lennon. And that's not bad, either. But I'm still getting old.

18) The Prodigy, One Love, Hackers Soundtrack - I haven't seen this film, and don't have anything else by any of the bands on the cd, but it's a cool cd. I'd classify it as chillout, and play it during dinner. Otherwise, it's listenable, if a bit repetitive.

19) Fleetwood Mac, Sara, Greatest Hits - there's a (no-longer) secret part of me that likes old mellow classic rock. More proof of how old I really am. It's not my fault, it's Stevie's voice. She's addictive. I have an Eagles album, too...how's that for too much information?

20) Handel, Affetuoso, Watermusic Suite #3 - and it's all capped off by 46 sublime seconds.

I'm impressed you've made it this far, and I thank you. Now, I'm off to hear what comes next, and next, and even next, and to curse Phiggy for all the cool stuff that she didn't play in the first 20 (like the Rammstein song she's playing now).

This post brought to you by the letter 'G'

Here are the rules:

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write 10 words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

I requested a letter from the lovely Socialpest, and she kindly chose 'G'. I have managed to avoid using the words 'good' or 'great' to complete this meme...because being able to list good food, good music, and so on wouldn't have been nearly as challenging.

1) Genre. Yes, I may not be doing my project (well, I have gotten some good work done on it today), but I'm sure as hell thinking about it! I'm definitely setting my view of blogging (and by extension, tagging) from the perspective of genre theory. So, that comes first.

2) Grammar. I love grammar, by which I mean syntax. It's like a gigantic puzzle. I like teaching it, I like knowing how it works in my foreign languages, I like it on a more theoretical level. I know, I'm a mutant.

3) Guernica. It started when a teacher in a James Joyce seminar in my undergraduate days gave out a photocopy of it to the class. Then to see the real thing, in the Reina Sofia, words cannot express. I cannot go to Madrid without spending a long time just staring at it from various angles. I have a small canvas poster of it, lovingly known as mini-Guernica, as the centerpiece in the room where I study (and blog), and stare at it a lot, too.

4) Grey. I'm not sure if this is my favorite color anymore, but it's one of them anyway. It was the undisputed king of colors for much of my teenage and post-teenage years. All shades of it, but preferably a bit darker.

5) Growing up. I'm still waiting to feel that I'm a grown up, though I probably am. But I feel keenly that the things I go through, and put myself through, put me in a pretty much continual state of growing up.

6) Getting out. I do tend to stay in the same place on the couch, doing stuff on my computer, rather than being out enjoying things. So, I should be getting out. All the same, it's a very comfortable couch.

7) Glottal Stop. Danish has a reputation for being difficult to pronounce. Half of this at least, or at least talking about the Copenhagen/Zealand dialect, is that there are glottal stops (in Danish, stød) in what at first appears to be really odd places. At my language school, which is pronunciation obsessed in general, students have been known to fail early levels for not pronouncing the stød, even though there are regional variations of Danish which don't have this feature. I got quite good at glottal stopping on demand, until I didn't need it anymore, and now I apparently speak without using a single stød.

8) Ginger. Or maybe Garlic. Along with vanilla, my personal holy trinity of food flavors. I will consider any recipe or menu item that features these ingredients prominently. And all three make good ice cream flavors. No, really.

9) Geek. Well, nerd is probably more appropriate...more academic, and not necessarily as deeply focused on one small area. But it doesn't start with 'G'. I have referred to myself as a grammar goddess, but maybe grammar geek? How about blogging geek?

10) Giants. I tend to ignore most of the baseball season, mainly because there is nothing in Europe to remind me of it, but it is (along with football...by which I mean soccer) my favorite team sport. And well, this is my favorite team. Root, root, root for the home team, right?

Image from http://history.sandiego.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/55010.jpg