Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
I think it’s about damn time for a change. I don’t know what I’m going to change, but it’s going to be something.
I’m beginning to hate myself–not in a self-destructing way, but in a I-need-to-change-something-about-myself way. I’ve gotten to the point where I annoy myself, and if I annoy myself, do I annoy other people? Probably.
I think I could rock this, don't you?!
Therefore, I’m going to change something. Maybe I’m going to become someone who studies really hard or perhaps I’ll get a new type of hair or buy some new clothes. Maybe I’ll make a new friend. Maybe I’ll become someone who drinks 8 cups of water a day. Maybe I’ll eat healthily. Maybe I will stop using apostrophes. I just need to change something. I need to break the spell of monotony with something, I don’t care what.
I just need to shake something up. I need to focus on something different, maybe obsess about something new, and therefore not annoy myself or other people. I just need to change something about this boring life.
What has brought this about, you may ask? Perhaps it is my upcoming big choices. Or maybe it’s because I’m updating the Sims and must wait twenty minutes for it to load.
Disconcertingly yours,
Elizabeth
P.S. My school was just cancelled for tomorrow 🙂 Be happy for me!
Pardon the pun people, but the point is: I’ve got overalls!
I had overalls growing up, and I just loved how comfy they are. And also practical! And I wanted overalls to wear for those casual and laid back occasions that my life seems to be based entirely on lately.
Well, now I won’t have to long for overalls any longer, because my wonderful mother gave me these last week. So now I’m cleaning the apartment sporting a denim overall from my mother and a Bon Jovi t-shirt from my father. Parents are the best! (And yes, I know, this is totally the 80’s look…)
I actually have a pair of red overalls from the year I graduated High School. A nice norwegian tradition is to wear a pair of red overalls for 17 days, without cleaning them, while doing stupid stuff. This is me sporting the red “Russe”-overalls on a mountain hike. They were actually quite good for the purpose. Practical. Lots of pockets.
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But enough with the overall-talk, I was supposed to tell you about my weekend! I’m done with my year of political studies, and I don’t have to go into work until tuesday. Conclusion: This weekend is the best!
Tonight is also my favorite yule-tide tradition: The tasting of the Yule-tide brew! There are 5 brews in our test-group, and we will rate which one is the best. I will also make a nice yule-tide dinner, and we have aquavit to go with it. A very norwegian evening with fish, beer and aquavit.
Yes people: Frida loves her life when she isn’t stressed about exams!
-Frida
Alrighty.
As some of you might know, the story of my studies, my future plans and anything revolving around this subject has been a swirling swirlyness of confusion, indecisiveness and huge impulse-decisions. My only steady rock in an otherwise world of “wat?” is the notion of wanting to become a teacher.
Allow me to briefly recap you on the story. I pop out from high school, study a year of political science in Bodø, rush to Stavanger to study english for half a year, and as of this January, I am going to Oslo. That is where this blog series comes into the picture. I still have no idea what I am going to study, and every other week i go onto the University in Oslos websites and find a different plan for myself that seems equally thrilling. I shall tell this tale as it progresses.
Europe! Woo, aint that a pretty-as-cheesecake continent? Anyways, currently I am browsing something called a bachelor in Europestudies, which as well as giving a thorough run-through of EU, will let me choose to study it from a political science point of view. When this delicious bachelor is done, I will qualify for a masters degree in political science, which I can build upon with pedagogics and become a teacher, or find me another awesome job.
Thanks for your time. Peace out, liberty cabbage
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Salutations!
Those of you who have detailed information about my computing history, will know that I used to own a Macbook. Do not hold that against me when writing this.
These are the various iPhone generations. They are evil! And overrated! (i had one)
A while ago, actually quite a long time ago, I came over a news article which told us about Apple, and how ingenious this freakishly humongous computer-imperialism-badboy company is. First of all, all of us have heard rumors about various iProducts. “The next iPhone which will be released soon will have a fancy new screen! The next generation iPad will have USB ports!”. Well, some of these rumors are leaked discretely by Apple before an upcoming release, so that the product appears over and over again in new articles about new rumored features. Thus, everyone knows about products that will launch, and a false excitement of how wonderful a pretty mediocre product will be, flourishes in our heads (Yes, I have been victim to this).
Well, this is probably old news. But the real doobie (I saw Elaine using this word in one of her entries, and found it enthralling) is that they purposely leave out features of first generation products, so that when the next generation pops out, everyone will want to upgrade to a newer one! First generation iPhone did not include MMS, despite this being a feature that even phones from the 1990s have! If i had been able find the news articles (which was well sourced and had lots of striking examples) that I read this in (intense googling did not help), this entry would be much better.
I want one so badly. But I shall resist, because I know of their evil plan!
Also, a documentary aired on a Norwegian TV channel shows us how under capitalism, products are deliberately made so that they are prone to breaking. In the choice between a sturdy product that lasts and a product that will break down and need repairs, capitalists will go for the latter, because you get to charge extra for insurance and repair expenses, and if that cable breaks you’ll need to buy a new one.
Now, I can’t blame this solely on Apple. They are the victims of a system which rewards those who do exactly what Apple do: find brilliant ways to manipulate the public to sell their overrated, overpriced products that are prone to breaking (if you honestly have not seen a single news article about malfunctioning Apple products, you have never seen a newspaper.)
So Apple, as capitalism itself, is wicked, tricksy, false. They plays evil mindgames on us, precious.
And now that I have vented some frustration,
Peace out, liberty cabbage (which is what Americans called sauerkraut after the Germans crapped their pants and did that whole WW1 thing)
PS. Song recommendation, simply because both the artist and the song be awesome: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBqyEFyGaAM
PPS. How crazy conspiracy theorist am I sounding right now? 😀
PPPS. This entry turned out much longer than i expected. I do apologize, and for those who got through: R.E.S.P.E.C.E.T!
After Vegard’s post on why he wants to become a teacher I have felt that I wanted to do a similar post, seeing as I am studying for the same goal. And tonight seems to be the right time for that post.
Why is this such a good time? Maybe because I am currently reading up on school politics for a debate tomorrow. Or maybe because I just chose my major last week. Or maybe both?
When I went to high-school I didn’t have the best of times. My first three years of it I was living in Belgium with my family, and I had some subjects in the norwegian school and some in the american school. I didn’t want to be in Belgium, and the people in Belgium didn’t seem much pleased to have me there either. It was hard, and I didn’t feel like I fitted in. I wasn’t the sweet and cute cheerleader-type of girl, and I wasn’t quite as outspoken as I am now.
I was good in school, but I didn’t want to be there. And the teachers didn’t make it any easier. I wanted a teacher who understood that everything wasn’t all right, but no-one seemed to notice. I went to quite drastic meassures to let it show, and I suffered from periods of depressions.
The third year in Belgium, while in 9th grade, I found somewhere to belong. People who I could concider friends. Things seemed better, but I was still fucked up. I didn’t want to be in class, or in the classroom at all. I did good in classes, but getting up in the morning was hard.
The first couple of years back in Norway were okey. I always did good in school, and I made some friends. But the last year of High School was bad again. I had gone through a lot, I was tired and felt alienated from everything. I didn’t want to go to class. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to sleep. I had friends, but I felt alone. I did good in school, and I had my plans and my goals, but I had a teacher who saw that I was struggling with even showing up enough to get my diploma.
This teacher is the reason I didn’t quit. He asked to talk to me, and I told him that I wanted to quit and take a year of, but I knew my parents wouldn’t like it. And he knew that the risk of me never returning to school was big. He helped me through it. He had an open door if I needed to talk, he let me take classes off as long as I did the work. He talked to my other teachers, and thanks to him I got my diploma.
I want to become a teacher to change the way school works. I want to become a teacher to help those who aren’t sure if they’ll make it. I want to become a teacher who isn’t afraid of asking a student what’s wrong, and how I can help.
The school-system is fucked up when teachers see students missing classes and not getting their diplomas without helping them.
The school-system is fucked up when students don’t want to go to school because of the way they’re treated by fellow students and teachers, and no-one does anything to fix it.
And the school-system is fucked up when students in trade-school have to learn Shakespeare, but can’t speak in english about their own profession.
A big problem in Norway is students who quit high-school, never to finish it. Good students who get tired, because the classes aren’t generated to meet their needs.
The teachers are supposed to be there for the students, not the other way around. And thanks to my one teacher who really understood that, I actually finished high-school and am now studying to be a teacher. If I can do that same effort for my students then I will concider my work a success.
Openly yours,
Frida