I came into work as usual this morning, at 07:35. At 08:00 I, as always, heard the usual sound of… But SSSH! What’s that? No sound of shuffling feet coming my way? No high-pitched, overly friendly, licking-your-back-for-no-good-reason voice bouncing off the hallway walls?

No? NO! Cue angel choir, rainbows and all manner of cute animals frolicking!

Yes, today was the first day of my glorious three weeks of not sharing an office with co-worker B. I must say, I’m enjoying it immensely allready. The new-found freedom of not having to take into consideration another person’s needs at all (and let me tell you, that consideration? As it is, it only works one way - from me to her.) is making me a happier person, much like ice cream does.
Tomorrow, I’m even going to brave PLAYING MUSIC. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. There will be music in my office, played proudly by crappy built-in computer speakers, crappiness enhanced by the fact that the computer resides under the desk. But I will enjoy my three weeks of music at work.

Step 1: Turn kittylitter around so that the door faces the wall, thus making it impossible for the cat to get in there.
Step 2: Whenever cat approaches kittylitter and meows, open window and throw cat outside.
Step 3: Wait.

We’re still on step 3, mind you, so how this will work, no one knows for sure. What I do know for sure is that I’m sick and tired of our hallway smelling like a kitty loo, no matter how often we clean it. The smell is IN the plastic now, and it stinks out the entire hallway (plus other rooms if we keep the doors open). Grr. So Link is now (un)happily outside.
It might sound harsh and all, but you know what? If it works, it’ll be worth it. Moppe learned outdoors pooping the hard way, Link can do it as well.

So, the exam… Since you asked, Lotta, I’ll just explain what it’s all about: British and American culture. Here’s what the department website says about its academic content:
The course will provide an up-to-date overview of the geography, population, minorities, politics and government, foreign policy and international connections, legislation, economy, social services, educational system and mass media in Great Britain and the United States, presented in a historical and critical context.
Sounds intriguing, no? It’s actually quite interesting, some of it. Also, reading the news from the US and the UK now makes me feel all clever because I understand what the issues are all about. Eeeexcellent. *rubs hands together*

Today: Sleep-in, followed by dinner and cake at Tor’s mom’s place, because it’s his brother’s 22nd birthday.

Hedda (in case I don’t catch you on MSN): Tomorrow or tuesday would be great, as we’re having a farewell-dinner for a co-worker on wednesday. I’ll doublecheck with Tor and get back to you in due time. :)

But I’m a busy bee! I was recently, as in tuesday, approved to run my most coveted fanlisting ever (second perhaps to the general LotR and/or HP fanlistings, but at least it ranks high up there with them): the fanlisting for Dreamfall! Oh bliss. The small things in life give me such joy sometimes. Small things such as an electronic approval of my electronic shrine to the wonder of wonders that is Dreamfall.
Anyway! Working hard on that. I tried Jem’s tutorial for centering a div layout with CSS, and lo and behold, it WORKED. In both Firefox and Internet Explorer. I’ve never had it work in both before. That being said, I did leave out the float: right sidebar, so I’ll have to try it again sometime later with a two column layout to see if I really get it right.

A day or two after initially applying for the Dreamfall fanlisting, I realized I would probably not get it, so I went and applied for the Zoë Castillo fanlisting as well. And what do you know, I got that one too. Which of course is fab, just fab. I finished that one yesterday (that’s gotta be some sort of FL completion record), and you can view it here: Destined. Please note the highly innovative name. Perhaps not, but at least it fits.

So what else is new? Nothing much. I recently applied for a job at the central archives of NTNU, and I got called into an interview, quite unexpectedly. Another girl at work also got an interview, and apparently we’re finding out tomorrow who’ll get the job offer. I’m having mixed feelings towards it at the moment. On the one hand it’s a senior executive officer position, permanent, as opposed to the temporary (possibilities for prolonging though) junior executive officer position I’m currently in. On the other hand, there’s the fab work environment I’m in now, which is also totally supportive of important things like my education and my intense need to go home for Christmas no matter what.

I finalized our summer holiday yesterday, by ordering bus tickets (eww) for me and Tor to get to Oslo, and plane tickets for the four of us to get from Oslo back to Trondheim upon our return from Lithuania. Wow. I’ve never organized something like this before, but my mom sort of piled it all on me. Mostly because I’m the one with a credit card, thus being able to order online and save a lot of money.
Still haven’t gotten a passport though… I’m sort of dreading the passport pictures. I know they’ll turn out crappy no matter what, but I still have this urge to go get my hair cut before I get the pictures taken. However, I need the pictures SOON, and I’ve told myself that I’m not getting a haircut until after my exam. I rule myself with a firm, but gentle hand. Now it’s time for bed, and I mean RIGHT NOW, young lady, no stalling.

May 1st is Norway’s labour day, which of course means that we get the day off to attend parades, but which of course also means that I’ll spend the day sleeping.

This week’s been kinda busy at work… Lots and lots to do. It’s not looking to slow down yet either, we have a whole lot of meetings scheduled in the coming weeks. I like being busy though, I prefer it to being idle. I still find time to write Mario emails though. :D

Done a lot of reading for the upcoming exam. I’ve got two chapters left of American Civ., then I start British. Le sigh. It’s neverending. I have a pretty good feeling about the exam, which disturbs me a bit. Usually when I feel really good about something, it falls through. <.<

I've made a page with random, sort-of-daily photos for you all to, err, enjoy. Find it here.

But what if you feel like you have two homes? I actually do believe that I’ve left part of my heart back home-home, it sure feels like it whenever I have to leave my family to go back here again. It’s not that I don’t like it here, I’d just prefer to be both places at the same time. Is that so much to ask? IS IT?

Anyway, I had an absolutely fabolous trip home. I spent a lot of time with my mom, talking and doing crafts and walking the dog, and I also visited my grandmother a couple of times as well. We went to my recently deceased grandfather’s house, but I didn’t go inside. I think I’d prefer to remember it as it was with him in it, not as an empty house. :cry:

I have to say a special thank you to everyone who commented on the last entry. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had that many comments on a single entry before. Link’s really popular with the ladies, it seems. :love:

I’ve been working on a couple of crafty projects since I got back, and will have pictures to show eventually. :) Other than that, I’ve been playing a bit of Star Wars: Empire at War, and am now awaiting Tomb Raider Legend, Oblivion and Dreamfall. Especially Dreamfall. I’m also studying like mad for my june 6 exam. The curriculum is enormous, as it includes both American and British civilization, with everything from history to population to geography to economy to media…the list goes on. Suffice it to say that even though the books aren’t that big, it’s A LOT for one brain to understand and remember.

Now, for a few pictures from back home…

View from our house. The red building is the old barn, the yellow house is my grandmother’s, and the blue one is my aunt’s.

View again. See those trees that are lying there in the field? Notice the one that’s lying away from the others? It fell the wrong way when it was being felled, and cut our telephone cable. Of course, the 3 days after this incident were all holidays, so the repairmen wouldn’t come fix it.

Gavi, my mom’s Golden Retriever. She might look nice and cute, but she’s really a whirlwind in disguise.

Yay, spring is arriving!

Hate object of today: April 1st. Yes, I hate TODAY. Well, I don’t hate the day itself, I hate how too many idiots walk around thinking it FUNNY to fool people. IT IS NOT FUNNY. Do you sense some bitterness here, perhaps a bad childhood experience? Why yes, you do. I’m not going to talk about it, but suffice it to say that it was NOT FUNNY.
Normally, I would avoid the world on days like these, but fate would have it so that I need to go into town to renew my bus pass. Unless of course I’d like to walk to work on monday, but if you know me at all you know that would never happen. So today, I’ll be the one yelling “BEGONE, VILE TRICKSTER” to random people in the streets. <.<

The bottom line is that I truly, truly dislike this day. No joke.

New layout. :hero: I was afraid I’d worked on it for too long, cause I started to get really tired of looking at it… But I got it up before my rage flared up and deleted it. Actually, I don’t really delete other layouts… I just archive them for months and months until I forget they ever existed.
The changes are obvious, I guess. No sidebar, all navigation at the top. I’m just trying it out to see how I like it. I actually think I’m rather partial to the sidebar, but we’ll see. :)
Inspiration from Dooce and XOXO, brush by Jason Gaylor (also found via Dooce).

Going home in about a week, which will be lovely to say the least. We’re ordering our vacation then too, yay. Not sure where we’ll go, but Riga tops the list for now. I can’t wait, I’ve never been outside Scandinavia that I can remember. I mean, I know I’ve been elsewhere, but I was too young to remember much of it now. My memories of that whole trip are limited to: large window sills (we were visiting my dad onboard the tanker he worked on at the time). Swans in sunset. Bearded men. Waves. Not so good food.
So yes, a new vacation outside of Scandinavia is well overdue.

And now, off to bed I go. I have no meetings or classes at work tomorrow, which means that I’ll be stuck by the computer most of the day, so being tired isn’t really an option. Wouldn’t want to fall asleep at my desk. <.<