Fun with friends

Cosmic Love

A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then, it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

Lungs!

I am absolutely obsessed with the band
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE! This song, "I am not callinng you a liar" is from their latest album, Lungs. Their music just hits a nerve with its soulful lyrics and haunting melodies. And I love that it is so different... it is unpretensious yet aware. What do you think?

The Shadow-Line

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"Why was I not more surprised? Why? Here I was, invested with the command in the twinkling of an eye, not in the common course of human affairs, but more if by enchantment.

I ought to have been lost in astonishment. But I wasn't. I was very much like people in fairy tales. Nothing ever astonishes them.

When a fully appointed gala coach is produced out of a pumpkin to take her to a ball Cinderella does not exclaim. She gets in quietly and drives away to her high fortune."

"Human nature is, I fear, not very nice right through."

Joseph Conrad, The Shadow-Line (1916)

Music therapy

Feeling down? Need energy? Can't pick up the pace? Whatever the cause of your dullness, here is a list of some of my favorite happy songs. Yes, some are cheesy, but who the eff cares? Pump up the volume and get going on that housework.

Superfood: The next generation

I'm fascinated by the term "superfood". The thought of eating living and raw food to keep your body in balance sounds fantastic, no? How about a smoothie made of green algae or niblets of sacred chocolate? I gotta admit I prefer the sound of the latter.

However, I recently made some minor changes to my diet. I incorporated hemp seeds and detox tea to my daily cuisine. I'm also trying to eat less bread, pasta and potatoes. If you are worried about the hemp seeds, I can assure you that they are not from the THC carrying marijuana plant. Same family, though. The seeds contain poweful amounts of Omega 3, 6 and 9. I use them in oatmeal with cottage cheese and bluberries. Delicious! That's what I call a super breakfast. Packed with protein, antioxidants and healthy fatty acids.

If you care about your skin, it's important to remember you are what you eat. Yes, I know, you've heard it before. I gotta admit I've had my fair share of burgers and chocolate, but since I still get carded to buy wine when I am 18 years above the legal drinking age, I feel blessed with good skin. I might have been lucky through my 20s, but if I want to further avoid a dry and dull complexion (trust me, I have those days, too) I have to step up my skincare regime beyond moisturizers and honey masks. So, that means, from now on, I am ever so slowly switching out the bad stuff with the good stuff. It won't happen overnight, but I will try my best. You can follow my progress right here on my blog, if you want to, that is.

I've noticed several bloggers, writers and health gurus buzz about this so-called miracle oil that has the daunting name of (drum roll, please) Aman Prana Happy Delight oil. It's expensive, but according to worldwide health spies worth every drop. I am not sure what it tastes like, but I am planning on giving it a try.

What do you think? Are you intrigued by the word of mysterious super foods?

Just another song that I like

Music. I just can't live without out. I first discovered this song back in 2006. It's an emotional song that I guess can translate to most moods.... love, anger, disappointment, longing. It's performed by the former Seattle band Acceptance. Too bad they don't exist as a group anymore. What's your take of the song?

How about a little piggy?

Animals. Taste the word. Doesn't it make you happy? If you know me, you KNOW how much I love animals. I would like to have a few dogs, some cats and maybe a pony. I could go on.

But yesterday I came across an ad for a Canadian mini pig for sale. Look at him.. isn't he cute? He's potty trained, clean and loves to snuggle. Everybody together now: Awwwwwwwww.

If only I could have pets where I live. *Sigh*

Generation Me?

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Never before has media and the internet played such strong roles in defining one's identity. We tweet, we blog, we e-mail, we google (ourselves) and constantly change our Facebook profile photos. Newscasts have become interactive, and any John or Jane Doe can get their 15 minutes fame by signing on to reality shows.

Politicians tweet their campaigns and have Facebook profiles. Business- and career oriented people go to LinkedIn. Going to college? The curriculum , the schedule and even the faculty is only a mouse click away. Professors launch podcasts for their students to download. Bands and musicians have fan pages with videos and mp3 files. Celebrities and wannabes create "LIKE" pages on Facebook. And who doesn't have a blog? If you have a question, a problem or a topic.. google it! Up comes video tutorials, instructions and definitions for almost ANYTHING.

Following the Baby Boomers there was Generation X, then along came Generation dot com. And what do we have now? Generation Me.

We are probably living in the most narcissistic decade of all times. With Twitter and Blogger, anyone can be a journalist. News spread fast, but what or who can we trust? If you want to know what your friend has been up to, nevermind a phone call. Facebook tells you who broke up with who, who's pregnant, sick, and who's eating what for dinner with whom and where. It's getting to be information overflow at times. Seriously, do you really need to know who's suffering from constipation? Do you need to see your friend flashing her boobs at some frat party? Do you really need to pinpoint every location you're at via iPhone? Thankfully we have to option to block, unfriend or hide what we don't need cluttering our feeds on Facebook. And yes, there's an app for that.

But I am wondering... what is behind this constant need for attention? Because, that's after all what this is, right? Or is it the need to share? Educate? Engage in conversations? Are we online narcissists or spies?

A little piece of Portland in Bergen

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My friend and I had coffee at Barista, a cool coffee house/bar/venue in Bergen. It has a retro feel to it, and reminds me a little of the quirky cool hipster hangouts you so often come across in Eugene or Portland. The place is packed with vinyl records, retro arts and band posters. Barista is tucked away in a quiet corner of the city, and if you don't know about it, it may be hard to come across it by chance. To my great surprise there was a show poster for an old Elvis Costello show in the bathroom - where else but at the Roseland Theatre in Portland. Yay! A little piece of Oregon hits right at home (in the restroom.. haha!)

Pepperoni Love

Carnivore or not, pepperoni pizza never looked so.. CUTE! Love those little heart-shaped ronis. I guess you can always substitute with a vegan product.

Image from here.

The latest news

As you can see, I haven't been posting much lately. It has been a stressful couple of weeks with moving, working and being without internet. I don't know how I managed to live without the net before.... I feel so cut off from the rest of the world! Not to mention that I can't even watch my favorite shows.. gasp.

But now to the serious side. Jamie and I got the worst news last week. UDI rejected our appliaction for family immigration. Actually, they rejected our appeal (because they previously denied it in February) AND our wish to have Jamie stay in the country while UNE reviews our case for one last chance. I can't count how many people have asked me, "you guys are married, can't Jamie be a citizen?" No. It doesn't matter what country you are from or want to live in, marriage is NOT the magic key. Marriage doesn't grant you any international rights, save for the right to APPLY for a residence permit. Citizenship is never the first step, it's always residency. Citizenship is not necessary to have to live in a foreign country. It's something that comes down the line many years from now if the person feels like it. Residency, on the other hand, is not too hard to obtain, IF you are in the right categories. Yes, you need to have a clean record, a birth certificate, a passport, and a valid marriage license. But there are so, so, so many other requirements that most people don't know about.

What has gotten in our way, is the requirement, "that the person living in Norway had a registered income corresponding to salary grade eight in the pay scale for Norwegian state employees the previous year, and that he/she still receives this income. This must be documented by enclosing your latest tax certificate." Since I was working in Oregon that time, I was making much less that what I would in Norway. To put it bluntly... my wage is almost considered to be that of poverty. It doesn't matter how much I make now, or that I have been able to provide for Jamie from the moment we sat foot in Norway. It doesn't matter that I got a job within the three first weeks of moving back. None of this matters to the immigration bureaucrats. And you know what's the worst part? If we had applied only ONE year earlier, we'd be exempt from this requirement. This is a new law that was put forth in 2010. Argh! If you want to read up on the entire process of family immigration to Norway, click here.

In the meantime, Jamie has to leave Norway, as he was not granted permission to stay for the final appeal. In my opinion, that is just cruel. There is no reason why they shouldn't let him stay here. They are causing financial hardship on both of us by enforcing this. I have to pay for the ticket, and he has to find a place to stay, a job and a car within just a couple of weeks from now. Yes, the system is strict. And it seems like it doesn't bend for a hardworking, honest married couple. We haven't done anything wrong. Neither of us have criminal records. We have never hurt anyone. We haven't robbed anyone or committed fraud. We are a family, and they are separating us.