Winter is comming! // Her kommer vinter'n!

Two pop culture references in one title! Probably just accessible to the Norwegian audience, but still. November introduced us to the negative temperatures again. Starting up somewhere in the yellow. Had to take my spikes out. Wikipedia calls them Scandinavian Crampons. You don't have them out there in the English speaking world? Wow, you are missing out. Anyways, here is some progress!

To popkulturreferanser i en tittel og greier. I november kom minusgradene, etter en oppstart der ute i det gule. Broddene måtte frem og greier. Men det sier ikke så mye, ettersom jeg går med de fra ca første snøfallet... 

October temperatures // Oktobertemperaturer

I know its late. So, so late. But I don't want to leave it unfinished, and so; here is Octobers progress!
I don't know why, but the picture is not really to good. As you can see, the month was exceptionally boring, colorwise.

Jeg vet det er sent. Sånn skikkelig skikkelig sent, men jeg har ikke lyst til å la prosjektet mitt virke uferdig. Så her er oktobers temperaturer. Helt utrolig kjedelig, som dere ser. 

Fall is upon us! // Nå er det høst!

A week late is nothing! Well, I've been trying to write some other posts as well the past weeks, but I am just too tired and busy with school.  Or university as it actually is. This is my second year on the master level, so you know, there are things to do. But I am getting to it.

You know when I, in January, complained it was boring and monotonous, colorwise? September took note and went "hold my beer."

//

En uke for sent er da ingenting! Jeg har prøvd å skrive en del andre innlegg også, de siste ukene, men jeg kommer ikke helt i gang. Jeg er for sliten og/eller har for mye å gjøre på skola. Eller univeritetet da, som det faktisk er. Det er mitt andre år på masternivå nå, så det er ting å gjøre, bøker å lese.

Husker dere da jeg klaget i januar? På at det var litt kjedelig fargemessig og sånt? September bare; januar er ingenting mot meg!

Gamer Girl Monthly Unboxing - August Box

It is finally time for a new box from Gamer Girl Monthly. Or, actually, a padded envelope. I'm skipping the box from July since I wasn't home until a while after it came.

//

Det er endelig tid for en ny boks fra Gamer Girls Monthly. Eller, i dette tilfellet, en boblekonvolutt. Jeg hopper over den som kom i juli mens jeg var borte.

It is a red envelope, and it is so shiny it is hard to get a good picture of it. This is the second time I've gotten an envelope in stead of a box. The first time was last December, and I thought it was red and shiny in the spirit of Christmas, but it probably wasn't. 

//

Det er en veldig rød, veldig blank konvolutt som er ganske vanskelig å ta bra bilder av.  Det er andre gangen jeg får en sånn konvolutt, jeg fikk en i desember også. Da trodde jeg den var blank og rød  fordi det var jul, men den var nok ikke det da.

This is what greeted me when I opened the envelope. 

//

Det var synet som møtte meg da jeg åpnet konvolutten. 

The large meshy thing was this. I don't wear caps. This is not the caps that will make me start wearing them. And there will be no picture of me trying it on. But it fits. I'll probably give it to my youngest brother. He wears caps. It is Ash Ketchums caps, for those of you not knowing, he is the main character in the Pokemon series. 

//

Den store røde nettingtingen var denne. Jeg går ikke med caps. Og dette er nok ikke capsen som får meg til å begynne å gå med caps. Så det blir ikke noe bilde av meg med capsen på meg. Men den passer. Spørs om den kanskje gis videre til den yngste broren min. Han bruker caps. For de som ikke vet så er dette capsen til Ash Ketchum, hovedkarakteren i Pokemon-tvserien. 

And a usual drawstring purse with a controller on it. 

//

Og som vanlige en pose, denne gangen med en spillkontroll på.

We'll start with the Kingdom Hearts necklace. It is pretty, but I still haven't played Kingdom Hearts. 

//

Vi begynner med et Kingdom Hearts-kjede. Det er ikke så verst, men jeg har fortsatt ikke spilt spillet.

Then there was a Sonic necklace. It is not easy to take pictures of things that are this shiny, but I tried my best.

//

Så var det et Sonic-kjede. Det er ikke så lett å ta bilde av så blanke ting, jeg prøvde virkelig. 

The last item, except for the button, it a Mortal Kombat bracelet. I really like this. It is easy to put on and adjust and looks nice and simple. The button is also this logo, but I seem to have deleted the picture of it, and it is to dark to take a new one right now. 

//

Det siste tingen, uten om buttonen, er Mortal Kombat armbånd. Jeg liker faktisk dette ganske godt. Det er lett å ta på og justere og det er ganske pent. Buttonen er også av denne logoen, men jeg klarte å slettet bildet jeg tok, og nå er det for mørkt til å ta et nytt ett. 

Okay, so, I just had to show this off. I actually own a Mortal Kombat game. I haven't played it too much though. It sort of traumatized me when I was younger. You see, my brother and I got some games for our N64 for free. These were games used for displays in a store. Obviously, we were a little too young for some of them, and therefore my mother hid them from us. But we found out where they were hidden and tried them out. Screaming ensued and we could never tell anyone. Oh well, maybe I'll try it out now. After all, I'm almost 20 years older.

//

Jeg måtte bare finne frem dette spillet og vise det frem. For jeg eier faktisk et Mortal Kombat-spill. Jeg har ikke spilt det så mye da. Jeg er fortsatt litt redd etter at jeg prøvde det da jeg var liten. En gang fikk jeg og broren min noen spill til N64 gratis. De spillene hadde blitt brukt i utstillinger i en butikk. Vi var litt for unge for et par av dem, så mamma gjemte de for oss. Vi fant jo selvfølgelig ut hvor de var og så måtte vi prøve. Det er nok en grunn til at det var 18 årsgrense(tror jeg) på disse spillene, og det ble litt skriking og grining og vi kunne ikke fortelle det til noen. Men kanskje jeg skal prøve det litt nå. Jeg er tross alt nesten 20 år eldre. 

A picture of all the things! Even the button. It is quite dark. 

//

Bilde av alle tingene, til og med buttonen! Den er ganske mørk. 

As you can see, the theme is Crossover. 

//

Månedens tema har vært Crossover.

August is over // August er over

Not so delayed this time! One more month on the temperature project finished. August has ended and fall is here. The temperatures match this as well. Last year summer lasted well into September. This year I had to turn on heaters already in August. I don't know how the temperatures have been here while I was in Sweden, but since I got back at least it has been quite boring.

//

Ikke så forsinket denne gangen! Enda en måned på temperaturprosjektet er overstått. August er over og høsten er her. Temperaturen ute er enig i dette også. I fjor var det sommer langt inn i september, men i år har jeg måttet skru på varmeovner allerede i august. Jeg vet ikke hvordan temperaturen var her mens jeg var borte, men den har vært ganske kjedelig etter at jeg kom hjem.

The first of August is the first row after the two dark ones. So all the medium pink rows are while I'm still in Uppsala. The peach one in the middle is the day after I came home. The three dark ones towards the end are the trip to London. 

//

August begynner med første rosa rad etter de to mørkerosa. Så man kan se at det var varmere i Uppsala enn i Hamar. Den ferskenfargede raden i midten er dagen etter jeg kom hjem fra Sverige, og de tre mørke radene til slutt er de dagene jeg var i London. 

Geek Chic Monthly Unboxing - August Box

I promised you before I went to Sweden that I would return with unboxings in August. And here it is; the unboxing of the August Geek Chic Monthly Retro Video Games box!

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Jeg lovet dere at når jeg kom hjem fra Sverige skulle jeg poste en unboxing av denne boksen, nemlig Geek Chic Monthlys boks med retrospill-tema. Så her er den!

The Norwegian mail office people had put their tracking sticker on top of the box this time. They have done it before too, but not in a long while. That is why there are some spots on the lid of the box. I was a bit annoyed, as this is kind of a cool design. 

//

Posten hadde klart å sette sporingsklistremerket sitt på lokket denne gangen. De har gjort det før også, men har klart å la være en god stund. Men det er derfor det er noen lysere flekker på lokket. Litt irriterende da, ettersom dette egentlig er en ganske kult boks. 

Look like there are only smaller items this month.

//

Ser ut til at det er bare små ting denne måneden.

First off a Yoshi keychain! I love Yoshi! When my grandfather told me to name his cat, I chose Yoshi. Sadly he had omitted the rule that I could only choose between Mons and Lurifax, two more traditional Norwegian cat names. Oh well.  I chose Lurifax, by the way.

//

Først en Yoshinøkkelring. Jeg elsker Yoshi! Da bestefar ba meg finne på et navn til den nye katten sin foreslo jeg Yoshi. Dessverre hadde han glemt å informere meg om at jeg kunne velge mellom Mons og Lurifax, som vel er de mer tradisjonelle norske navnene på hannkatter. Det ble Lurifax.

Pac-Man bracelet. It is actually quite cute, but a little small

//

Pac-Man-armbånd. Det er faktisk ganske søtt, men litt lite. 

Tetris necklace! At first, I was really happy, since I indeed have spent a lot of time playing Tetris. But then I started thinking (Isn't that just a curse?) these are not the right colors of the tetriminos, are they? Oh well, I'll probably still wear it. 

//

Tetriskjede! Jeg ble først veldig glad, ettersom jeg har spilt en del Tetris i mitt liv. Men dette er vel ikke de riktige fargene på brikkene? Ikke at det egentlig spiller noen rolle, jeg kommer sikker til å bruke det allikevel. 

Zelda fairy bottle earrings. There is a chance I'll wear these too. 

//

Zelda fairy bottle-øredobber. Det er grei mulighet for at jeg kommer til  bruke disse også. 

Group shot!

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Gruppebilde!

The card. It says that next months box will be Studio Ghibli-themed. I haven't seen all the movies from Studio Ghibli, but I'm pretty sure there will be a Totoro in it!

//

Kortet. På det står det at neste måned kommer til å ha Studio Ghibli som tema. Jeg har ikke sett alle Studio Ghibli-filmene, men jeg er ganske sikker på at det kommer til å være en Totoro i boksen!

The long awaited, much delayed July update // Den altfor forsinkede julioppdateringen.

Actually, I finished this last week, but I had too much to do with my semester starting and then going to London for the weekend. But now I'm back in Norway, slightly sleep deprived, with a lot less money and a bag full of Harry Potter-stuff. More on that later. Let us look at some progress!
//
Jeg ble egentlig ferdig med dette forrige uke, men det ble for travelt med skolestart og helgetur til London. Nå er jeg tilbake i Norge, med søvnunderskudd, en god del mindre penger i banken og en bag med Harry Potter-ting. Som jeg sikkert kommer til å skrive om senere. Men, la oss se på litt fremgang!

If I remember correctly, the first of July is in the middle of the stripe of the darkest pink. 

// 

Om jeg husker rett skal den første juli være i midten av den første stripen med mørkest rosa. 

An update - On everything and nothing.

So, I'm back from Sweden. And I am super tired. And so this post will also be in English only. After all, there are more Norwegians able to read English than English speakers being able to read Norwegian. When I get back into a routine, I will go back to half and half again.

It was hard leaving Uppsala. I really fell in love with the city. The university, the river, the history, all the runestones! I am seriously considering going back to study. Zelda could even come, and she would love it. At least the river and the green areas. Maybe not so much the fact that I did not see even one dog without a leash while I was there. And she is used to walking without one.

As for the temperature project: I did bring it. And a thermometer, since the rooms did come with one. But I did not have enough yarn. In the middle of a row of light pink, representing the 18th of July I went out. I tried to find some in Uppsala, but couldn't and I haven't had any success today either, but I'll keep trying. For some reason, they have stopped stocking these colors where I used to buy yarn. I might not be able to get any until school starts next week and I get to go back to Oslo. 

See, it was there! 

I could post tons of pictures from Uppsala and also from Västerås, Sala and Mariehamn on Åland,  but I won't. You should just trust me, and go there yourselves. It is totally worth it! Well okay then. One picture from each place:

Fyrisån, the river that runs through Uppsala.

The large ship setting at Anundshög in Västerås.

Karl XI's shaft at the Sala Silvermine. 

This is a båk, or a day mark, on Åland. 

In other news; I was hoping to do an unboxing of the Harry Potter loot crate when I got home, but it is not here. I have been in contact with customer service, but I haven't heard back yet. Which is incredibly frustrating. I don't think I will be doing an unboxing of the Gamer Girl monthly box I received while I was gone since it is old news by now. But I will do an avocado update! You know after I've sent in my home exam-ish thing for the Swedish course. 

Let me know if there is anything you want me to do?

Sunday Update - Week 30

Well, hello there. Bet you are surprised by this post. Just because there is really a long time since the last one. It has been a hectic few weeks, arriving in Uppsala last Sunday and an intensive week with lectures and general tourist-ing. And geocaching because I just have to when I am at a new place.

I really should be studying, obviously. Even as I am writing this I really should be studying. And I probably won't be doing this post in Norwegian as it seems my Norwegian syntax didn't want to go to Sweden with me. Norwegian and Swedish are so close to each other, and my brain seems to adapt very well to hearing Swedish all day. So well, in fact, that writing in Norwegian is really hard right now. I know this because I've been logging geocaches all day from my trip to Stockholm yesterday. There were only 11, but it took forever because writing suddenly is a lot harder than normal.

Summary of the past week?
Sunday: I left my home around 11. I really don't remember the exact time. My train from Hamar left 1208, and I wanted to make sure I got on that because I had to connect to the train bound for Stockholm at 1442. And then I had another train from Stockholm to Uppsala 2111. I made all my trains and arrived at the hostel in Uppsala a little past 2200. I did not regret paying a little extra for a seat on 1. class. They had free mini muffins. And really comfortable seats.

Monday: We got our keys and had a late meetup dinner in the evening. But between getting the keys and the dinner I made my way to the station to get a bus card, and then to IKEA. I had to buy an extra pillow. I was really close to bringing my own, but I kind of gambled on the pillow they provided here being enough. It really wasn't. Also, I needed food and shampoo, conditioner and soap since I didn't want to bring that extra weight all the way here. With my hair, I can leave whatever little shampoo might be left over after three weeks. It probably won't be much. 

Tuesday: First lecture. Thankfully we start at 10, and so I am actually awake when it begins. We had some introduction to the course, plans and got internet access at the university, and then a course in Swedish pronunciation. In the evening I went exploring around town and discovered a rainbow. Among other things. 

Wednesday: Lectures about Swedish literature and language history. Most of the language history I already know, since it basically is the same as Norwegian language history. But it is my favorite subject, so I'm not unhappy.  Fell asleep really early in the afternoon, since I hadn't got a good nights sleep in ages because of stress and unfamiliar beds. Woke up again around 20 and went for a walk. It has been really hot here, and a late walk is really nice because the temperature is a lot more comfortable for a person that can't wait for fall. 

Thursday: A guided tour in the oldest part of Uppsala. And a trip out to Old Uppsala. You see, Uppsala was moved, I think in the middle ages. This was because of the land raising up since the last ice age. The Old Uppsala lost its close connection to the sea and a new cathedral was proposed closer to where the sea was then, in a town then called Östra Aros. The pope approved of this, as long as the name moved with it. But the Old Uppsala is most definitely a place you should go if you are ever in the area! I also bought dish towels with runes on them, and another Tors Hammer necklace, in the museum shop there. I love museum shops. They really are the best. It was really hard to choose a picture from this day, there really was a lot to see. But this is the first runestone I saw here, it is in the church wall at Old Uppsala.

Friday: More Swedish literature and a little on dialects and their status in Sweden. After school, I went to look for some more runestones, and found a whole bunch! Went to bed early after a long week.

Saturday: Went to Stockholm! Held a little geocaching event, met geocachers and had two of them show me the best caches in Stockholm city center. Went to the old part of Stockholm(Gamla Stan) and bought a handbag and churros on the shopping street Drottninggatan. Got really tired from all the walking, all the people, and the heat. I still did not get to do all the things I wanted to in Stockholm, I might have to go back. My bed finally felt like my own when I got home. 

Sunday: Today I've been taking it easy. Got out for a few hours to find some caches, to keep my streak. Ended up covered in seeds. The kind I hate it when Zelda is covered in. Missed Zelda a lot when I found a small forest to hide in, where there were shade and a comfortable temperature, and she would have loved running around in it. I miss my collie kisses. Went home, did some laundry, postponed reading and wrote this in stead. Going to bed early to charge up for another intensive week of learning. 

If there is anything you would like to know just ask, okay? 

Painting a table // Male et bord

The title sort of says it all. I'm painting my coffee table. And taking some pictures of it. Because you cannot just paint something without a little prep.

//

Tittelen sier en del. Jeg skal male stuebordet mitt. Og ta bilder av det, ettersom det ikke bare er å gå rett på og male med en gang.

Let's start with a presentation; this is my table. I love it. When I was around 12-13 years old I painted it white. It even lived with me in Oslo for a while. It doesn't usually stand outside like this. 

//

Vi får vel begynne med en lite presentasjon; Dette er bordet mitt. Jeg liker bordet mitt veldig godt. Da jeg var var sånn 12-13 år malte jeg det hvitt. Det har til og med bodd med meg Oslo en gang. Det pleier vanligvis ikke stå ute på denne måten.

This seems a bit forward, considering you guys just met, but I had to start by removing the top from the legs. 

// 

Dette gikk kanskje litt fort, sånn med tanke på at dere akkurat har møtt hverandre, men jeg måtte begynne med å ta fra hverandre beina og bordplata.

The underside of the tabletop is a bit damaged by moisture. This happened long before my time, but the glued on plywood just had to go now. 

//

Undersiden av bordplata har blitt litt vannskadet. Dette skjedde nok lenge før min tid, men nå må fineren på undersiden bort.

This is what being stored in a barn for decades can do to you. If you are a table. 

//

Slit kan du ende opp om du blir lagret på en låve i flere tiår. Om du er et bord da. 

It seems the person that once made this table signed his name. (Norvald Rodahl)

// 

Det ser ut til at møbelsnekkeren som en gang lagde dette bordet har signert verket sitt. (Norvald Rodahl)

After a good while of hard work and stabbing, the plywood is history. 

//

Etter en del hardt arbeid er fineren borte. 

Now over to some hours of sanding. Dad lent me some good tools for the job. Last time, before I painted it white, I was not allowed to use such tools. 

//

Nå går vi over til et par timer med pussing. Pappa har funnet frem verktøy til meg. Sist jeg gjorde dette, altså før jeg malte det hvitt, fikk jeg ikke lov til å bruke slike verktøy. Men heldigvis er jeg litt eldre nå. 

No pictures of the actual sanding, since my hands were busy holding the sander. Speaking of hands; this is how one of them ended up looking. Never mind the nails. 

//

Ingen bilder av den faktiske pussingen, siden jeg måtte bruke hendene mine til å holde pussemaskina. Og apropos hender, så er det ca slik de blir seendes ut etterpå. Ikke se så nøye på neglene. 

After hours of sanding and getting white dust everywhere on my body, it is time for some actual painting. I could choose between black, white or pink brushes by the way. 

//

Etter å ha pusset et par timer, og samlet hvitt støv på og i hele meg, er det på tide å male litt. Jeg hadde valget mellom svarte, hvite og rosa pensler, forresten. 

And many, many hours later the first coat is done. My back hurts. 

//

Og mange, mange timer senere er det første laget med maling klart til å tørke litt. Jeg har vondt i ryggen. 

Got up in the morning, put on another coat of paint.

//

Sto opp neste dag og malte et strøk til. 

Went to do something useful while the paint is drying. 

//

Gikk for å gjøre noe nyttig, mens jeg ventet på at det andre strøket skulle tørke. 

It takes time to dry paint, so I looked at some old pictures. This is me and my bunny, I might be around 7 years? So around twenty years ago...

//

Det tar tid for maling å tørke, så jeg fant noen gamle bilder. Som dette, av meg og kaninene min, Snurretopp. Jeg tror jeg er ca 7 år, så det er omtrent tjue år siden...

Next day I put on another coat of paint. The paint on the top ended up being streaky, so this time I put on a lot of paint to let it dry over the weekend. 

//

Dagen etter malte jeg enda et strøk, ettersom malingen på bordplata ble veldig stripene. Så denne gangen kjørte jeg på med masse maling og lot det tørke over helgen. 

Not everything can be evened out, some placed the scratches was very deep. But it is a lot better now!

//

Ikke alt kan gjevnes ut, noen av ripene var veldig dype. Men det er mye penere nå!

Yesterday the table finally made it back to its natural habitat. Yes, that is a green rug, it was free. I'm getting a new one. So now you know. I painted my table. 

//

I går kom bordet endelig tilbake dit det hører hjemme. Ja, teppet er veldig grønt, det var gratis. Jeg planlegger å kjøpe et nytt ett. Men da vet dere det. Jeg har malt bordet mitt.