TATFBW vs. TATFTBW?

As I am currently writing notes on basic statistics it seems only fair that I should also analyze my recent blog post frequency. As it happens it has dropped from my earlier "in average two posts per week" habit into a "barely one post per week" struggle. Now this has nothing to do with how many things there are to write about, or indeed how many things there are that one thinks one should or would want to write about.

I think what it has to do with is really the amount of time spent sitting down in one place at the same time. If one sits at work around eight hours a day, say, (as any decent office prisoner should) and then afterwards, say, at least four hours at home in the evening and especially if these times are spent by the computer, well, then the total amount of time favourable for blog writing (TATFBW) will be quite high.

However, if one spends only say two to three hours at most at the same place and moreover is not even spending it sitting down or as a matter of fact not even close to any computer, well, then the total amount of time favourable for blog writing is considerably lower. As it is, it might even be that there is no time favourable for blog writing at all during days like these.

This creates a bit of problem especially since based on my experience the kind of days with low TATFBW also tend to be days with an extremely high total amount of time favourable to thinking of blog writing (TATFTBW). Namely these kind of days contain a lot of getting from one place to another, which usually involves quite a lot of thinking of things to be done.

Having an odd eight hour day at the office I decided to increase the amount of blog entries for the ending month, but as I am realizing now, have forgotten to reduce the difference between thought of subjects and written subjects as this most certainly didn't turn out to be anything I had previously thought to write about.

Cold

Perhaps a month ago, or maybe even earlier, probably much earlier, probably when I was starting my Icelandic forces of nature series, well then, whenever it was, I wanted to write a post about coldness. I was quite tired of being cold all the time. It's not very warm in our apartment and the windows aren't very thick or the doors very tight. And it can be quite cold here sometimes, outside. Even if the temperature seems quite high it can be absolutely freezing. It's all because of the wind. There will be a post about wind later. I promise. The most important force of them all.

But about coldness. Our hot water was also broke for some time. Well, not in fact quite broke, we did get some hot water, but not very much by any means. As an example during the worst week filling the bath took 50 minutes and after the problem was fixed the bath was full in only 5. And if it is very cold, taking a hot bath is the only thing that can make you warm again, even if you have to wait for an hour to get in. And besides, soaking in hot water is rather Icelandic. As hot water is pretty much free here.

But I've also armed myself with blankets and icelandic herbal teas both of which I have written before. Here's a picture.

















And let me brag: There was some study recently that declared Iceland as the most expencive coutry in the world. And still I managed to buy the blankets for 400 ISK each and the tea mugs for 100 ISK each. Pretty good, eh? As 100 ISK is about one euro.

And yes, I know I've been silent lately. My mum's visiting. And there's way too much work. This post was half written earlier and I just felt sorry for my readers tonight, that's why I got it up.

But don't worry about me freezing my ass off here, the summer's coming, I'm sure of it. Just the other day I had to turn on the cold air in the car... For whole five minutes.

Visitors

It feels like every other week somebody is visiting. Not that it's unpleasant in any way. But we have aqcuired a homey routine that does not include thinking about excursions, museum opening hours and sightseeing. And trying to remember and understand the visitors' hopes and expectations makes me quite confuced sometimes.

The weekend over a week ago we had Mari and Kari camping in our living room. Mari is our god child and Kari her father. What do you call the parents of your god child anyway? We had a super fun weekend.

Oh, and to clarify, yes, I'm indeed a pagan and we are not her god parents in any religious sense. And yes I know that I'm using the word pagan wrong. Rather I mean that I'm not a Christian as opposed to most Finns. But in Finnish it's possible to use the word meaning irreligious. (Go ahead and check Wikipedia if you don't believe me: "Arkikielen käytössä sanalla tarkoitetaan nykyään uskonnotonta ihmistä.") And what ever do you mean that Wikipedia does not represent the ultimate truth?






















Aaanyway, pictures again at Picasa. And they come with captions so no more babble here. In the picture above: Mari at the Blue Lagoon.

Faltering Explanations

This was taken on Saturday through the car window as we were driving to Keflavik with some of my dance friends to see a play called Bærinn breiðir úr sér. Don't ask me to translate. In fact don't even ask me what it was about. Well, I know it was about Keflavik and Reykjanesbær, the municipality that Keflavik belongs to. And that it was a comedy. And evidently quite funny. I even got two or three of the jokes. Which I'm exceedingly proud of.

Afterwards we tried to get some food but all the kitchens in Keflavik were already closed at 10 pm. In the end we found a drive in pylsa place and had lots of fun.




On another note I know that there haven't been many posts lately. And yes it is again because I'm having a lot of fun. But this is the kind of fun that comes from the satisfaction of working your ass off with something you really want to do. And also with something else that makes you able to do just that.

There are numerous things every week that I think I must comment on on my blog but as I wait for the time to write about them new things come up and the old ideas get old and the new ideas are still too long to write down just tonight. And then I take hundreds and hundreds of pictures and will never have time to post them since I'll never have time to sort them all through as I'm still working on sorting out pictures I took here in October.

The fact of the matter is that my life here is simply too full and too beautiful.

More Like a Proof Man

Check out the trailer for the new movie "The Prover". Tommi has the title role. You can find it here and the trailer starts about 18:26 in the program.

To clarify it is the yearly prank video made by the engineering students at the Reykjavík University. The actors playing Tommi's students are really his students but Tommi does have a stunt man.

Exercise: Guess which is the only direct quote from the prover.

Pósturinn

Just making a general apology for not thanking for a possible birthday present. But the thing is that the Iceland Post, or rather Pósturinn, is not the biggest or the fastest or the most efficient of all the world's posts.

I recieved a note in early February telling me that I have received a package and that it can be picked up from the central post office. So the next morning or so I hopefully walked to the post but they told me that the package was still in the distibution center. The next time I went there I was told that it had gone missing and that they were now looking for it all over Iceland. And finally yesterday I was told that it still had not turned up. They can't even tell me who the sender is.

However, three other packages have arrived here more or less without problem, that is, I only had to enquire after them at most two times per package and only had to pay a little money to get one of them. So I remain hopeful. Maybe the lost one will turn up before we move back to Finland.

But the point is that I have a feeling that it might be a birthday present since it got here just before my birthday. And if so then there is some great friend of mine somewhere wondering why I never thanked for the present and if I really hated it or what? I'm so sorry. I'm sure I'll like it immensely when I finally get it.