The selection of bottles and jars in the bathroom has been substantially reduced too (though there still seems to be a lifetime supply of soaps and lotions). Why do these things accumulate? It seems only natural to empty one and THEN open the next, but somehow in a girl’s bathroom it doesn’t work that way. In order to empty some old jars, I’ve committed atrocities such as applying eye cream on my hands instead of getting a new hand cream. Let’s face it; I don’t need separate lotions for the eyes, rest of face, hands, feet, rest of body, and for massaging. Maybe you don’t either?

The deal said buy nothing, except for perishable food such as bread, fruit and veg, drinks, etc. I’ve mostly lived up to that, with the exception of the tights I’ve already confessed, an antiperspirant because I really did not wish as bad for my surroundings as being without, and that seems to be it. I did find a few treasures at a flea market, but made up for it by donating at least the same number of items to the market.

The secret war is online as of today. It is super shiny, but no fun alone and I want you to come play on the green team while we all wait for the big release on june 19. If you facebook, click here to experience the awesomeness.

It is no secret that I am far from neutral when it comes to the number one game this season. Matter of fact, I am hopelessly partisian to Dragon (GO DRAGON!) and as you can see from my little screenshot we are not currently exactly winning, so get in there and fast!

No, this is not the beta of the game itself. It is the facebook version, if you like. Except facebook games are lame and this is not.

Just where the busy feeling of downtown gives way for open spaces, looking over a park, sits a roomy flat with a tub and a kitchen that is way too fancy. Have a look:

(disregard the TV, these are the sales pics)

As far as we have been able to tell, there is not a single thing that needs doing here. What a relief! Summer is saved.

The outdoors is so nice I can’t wait for summer. They even plant trees. Is this faith?

It keeps getting better: The central heating was recently hooked up to the district heating network, meaning the place is reasonably green.

It will take two months (also known as FOREVER) for the previous owners to get their butts out, giving ample time to mentally furnish the place. There WILL be hammocks.

I miss having my own kitchen immensely, and a roomy, organized desktop just as much. Most of all, I miss inviting people over, can’t really do that in a shared residence. To those who feel it should be my turn now; I’ll make it up and beyond!

So I’ve embarked on a Buy Nothing-project. Until the moving date I will not buy any clothes or cosmetics, and use up the stocks of food as much as possible. Because there is too much stuff. I can’t live off preserves alone so the food part is not as strict, but I will design my meals around what I have. There’s enough rice, pasta and beans on these shelves to feed an army, and it would be perfect to not move those old, opened bags and packets into that elegant kitchen. Still, throwing out edible food is not an option. We’ll se how the project goes!

…And so I went right on to breaking the vows when I saw these. I feel that I can’t be blamed. Buy Nothing-project take II starts now.

]]> http://murmeldyr.no/2012/02/26/new-nest/feed/ 1 http://murmeldyr.no/2012/02/03/991/ http://murmeldyr.no/2012/02/03/991/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:21:16 +0000 aggy http://murmeldyr.no/?p=991 I visited the wetlandsin Florida one time with a local friend. We balanced on fallen logs to avoid stepping on snakes hidden in the undergrowth. On several occasions, giant webs blocked our path and we nonchalantly picked them down (“just take the yellow thread last, that’s the sensing thread”). Today I found out the owner of such a web is most likely this badass, the golden orb weaver.

It EATS BIRDS if they fly into its web.

*Shudder*

(On a somewhat related note: Fabric made of the yellow threads from a million golden orb spiders)

After waiting around for a while, we even got to meet a fantastic old gator (at least his nostrils). I was in a state of respectful awe, my friend was less impressed. In my eyes a living fossil, lion of the sumplands, sovereign of the food chain. In his, a toddler eating beast. How different we see things that are exotic to us from those close to us, though they may be exotic to others.

I think it was on the same day we took a break from swimming due to a snake that wanted to swim too. Ever seen a snake swim? Totally fascinating. So we let him have the pool for a while, until he eventually got tired and zig-zagged off.

Good times.

For the urban jungle; I had to let my wonderful porch box stay in the old flat (only good thing about that place), and the chances of getting anything like that again are miniscule. As a consequence of this, I’ve signed up for tending a local organic community garden, and can’t wait until growing season! Yes, those things do exist here in Oslo too, they’re just better kept secrets than over in Scotland, where they generally are better at that sort of thing. COME SPRING COME SPRING COME SPRING

Want to join us? Contact info

This toughie tops my list: Motorola defy+ with the +. My current smart phone started acting weird right from the start, and has really developed a personality by now (Sometimes I can hear you, sometimes not. It will freeze for no reason at all. It frequently loses reception in broad daylight, with or without telling. I’m in luck if I can get online.) In short, I need a new phone. And this time a durable one. This is Norway, not California.

Though it is hard to keep a dressy wardrobe in the current, temporary residence with little room for such, I dress reasonably business-esque for work. This necessitates the use of blouses on a daily basis (who’d have thought?) I love green, turqoise,  dark, intense colors in general, and unusual cuts. And this: 

Oslo can be a cold place in more than one way, and I’m always out of warm sweaters. I love the style with a huge, wide neck and a slim body that covers the butt. Color preferences much same as for blouses, plus grays. Continues under the image (stupid linkback feature, that white wall beneath the picture was completely unnecessary).

No acrylics! My work computer has a metal case, and if I build up static from moving around in synthetics I zap it several times a day (sometimes with visual and auditive effects)! I don’t think inadvertent electrocution is beneficial for macbooks OR human hearts. I know the trick in which you touch the metal object with a key in your hand to spread the charge exchange over a bigger surface, I just can’t do this every time I touch my comp.

I would be very thankful for thin socks, but no need for warm ones -I have a bag full and they don’t wear out.

Jumping out of character for a moment, I observe that posting a list of stuff is completely out of fashion. All it-blogs (that are not paid to do otherwise) are currently pouring home-made, non-consumerist gift ideas (which mostly require heaps of fancy supplies, but let’s not do the math). I do care about the extra spending at Christmas which can be quite wasteful, and I too could have made an anti-materialist let’s-send-it-all-to-children-in-need-post. However, these posts tend to be just as vain as anything else (yosh look at me, I’m being selfless!) and change little. The above items are things I will be getting myself anyway, and putting them under the tree will not lead to more spending. The best strategy to reduce Yuletide overspending is making specific and sensible wishes.

In other news, we are still looking for our flat, it’s good to have ample time to wait for the place that feels just right.

What do you want to see under your tree?

Human and rabbit companions and myself have flown already, to a tentative residence right above nightlife bonanza Grünerløkka. The place is great, but one room is a tad small when you have 25 plants and not the willpower to bin any of them (they’re alive, dammit! How would you feel).

Plan for the rest of the year: Dig through the real estate section of every medium, find the perfect crib and invite everyone to said crib before we need to replace the calendar.

These are exciting times. It is such a blessing to have this room in the city, enabling us to sell the Kolbotn place on a move-right-in-basis and have ample time to find a new nest.

I’ve made a list (several lists, in fact) detailing the requirements of the new place.

•  First of all, it needs to be practically on top on a public transport transit. Failure to comply with this is a deal-breaker.
• The second room needs to be big enough to fit a double work station with at least five monitors.
• Nothing about the building can in any way resemble a communist living machine. This point rules out many options in the upper right corner of the city, as well as anything over ten stories.
• Lastly, the place needs to have an x-factor, something that peeks the interest of a couple of nostalgic minds. Non-right angles, non-standard windows, an unexpected built-in shelf or a blue door are possible x-factors.

We’re prepared to pay the extra heating costs that come with an older flat, simply because older flats tend to be more interesting.

Work is still killing me, but people keep telling me it only gets better from here. November is the time when new teachers have depleted their energy stores from summer, but have not yet established the time-saving routines that are so vital in this profession. Makes sense. I counted my hours for this week, and according to the economy curriculum I’m teaching at the moment, my current workload is not even legal on an hour-to-hour basis (this comes down to me being too thoughtful about the things I do, and having to prepare all material from scratch. My employers are great and gives me all the flex that they can, it is not really their fault the previous science teacher took a hike and took all the materials with them).

So I bite my lip and do my best, the feeling of always lagging behind is horrible but I try to not take it personally -there is just no way I could do more.

Also I need to say that sorry everyone; the prize for best Halloween costume of the year is already taken by this guy:

My team is solution focused and a very pleasant bunch, my pupils are mature and well-behaved (if quite whimsical and independent) and I am learning as much as I am teaching every day. I may well have found the best school I could have ended up in. Of course I hope every teacher in every school is able to say that.

Muslims go all day without food this month, and I thought to see what it’s like, I just skip that huge dinner they have after sundown (I do eat breakfast and take vitamins, and if anything adverse happens I’ll stop in that instant. Don’t worry).

What can fasting plus daily exercise do to you? Reducing your waistline by 5 cm in a week and a half! (Back to where it were before England, it’s nice to fit in my clothes again.) I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth, but suffer from regular snack attacks. One day without meals and my blood sugar is stable as never before, the urge to snack is gone, and energy levels are higher than ever. I’ll definitely do this again.

I din’t try the full-sized swimming pool, but am sure it is just as excellent as the rest.

All gyms seem to have something that is plainly annoying (loud music in a short loop is a big one), this one just didn’t seem to have any of those. Wish there was one where I live!

The room is lit only by a small bulb on the wall. As there is no desk, I am writing this in bed with the laptop on the chair stool. The interior reminds me of the cabins on a ferry – everything is bolted to the wall. The window features a broken blind and a sign about thieves operating in the area. The toilets and showers in the hallway are supposedly self-cleaning, I assume that is by UV-light because there’s fatty grimes up the walls. At least they are disinfected fat grimes… No soap in any of the toilets. The other guests are huge beefy men with gangsta-style tattoos. It wasn’t until the next morning I saw the sign that could have gotten me out of this:  “After check-in you have 10 minutes to control the facilities. If you find the room unsatisfactory and want to leave, you can do so free of charge within the 10 minutes” (insert picture of sign here) The water smells like a swimming pool, though that is not really the hotel’s fault it adds to the ickyness. On the plus side, the staff is friendly and promised to have a talk with the cleaners, the wi-fi is fast and the sheets are clean (I am counting my blessings here). Also, ignoring the litter outside the window, you can see an old graveyard.

The “hotel” looked central on the map. Wrong again, it is in an industrial area cut off from the town by a highway that I would rather not cross on foot. To find a walkable way across, I had to go quite a bit out of my way.

So here I am, in a depressing place without a single sighting (the tourist office lists two attractions: The mall and the market. They were okay), meeting is not until tomorrow and I am back at the room to do some work. I got some raw greens and coconut water (try it!) for lunch, and at least I feel clean on the inside. Now I’ll pretend I’m solo backpacking in some obscure, hidden place (not that far from the truth) and call the whole experience exotic.

Used to be a grand place back in the days