magic beads indeed

a few more hours have passed since my airport lounge post. a lot has happened. i've been on two flights. i've spent an hour fuming about how backwards it is that you have to collect your bag in oslo (even tho' it's checked through to the remote wilds of norway), go through customs (which means OUT into the world), and then go upstairs and wait in line to recheck it (while meanwhile the precious minutes between your flights are ticking swiftly away).  i would seriously not have made it without the gold counter and the fast track security--and there must be a lot of people who have to do that who aren't gold and i wonder if they make it--i was sure my bag would never make it, hence the fuming. but the bag did make it, and so did i, so the fuming was for nothing...and now back to your regularly scheduled blog post...i've also rented a car, taken a ferry from the little island the airport is on, over to another little island (picturesque and GORGEOUS) where i found my hotel after a very long search (suffice it to say it wasn't where the rental car guy said it was...and i was rather disturbed by the fact that my clever phone showed the blue dot that was me to be out in the water when i was definitely not out in the water). now i've realized it's well after 10 p.m. and still light out, which in turn made me realize this is the furthest north i've been in my life. i haven't had any dinner and it's too late on a monday night to get any and i think my car might be illegally parked. but honestly, you can't stay mad at norway, even if that customs thing is stupid, it's just so beautiful.

and despite all of that, i have felt the most amazing opening of my mind. it's like my experience today cleared out some blockage that i didn't even know was there. on the plane, i scribbled out seven pages of blog ideas in my little blog notebook and another 4 of thoughts for the articles i'm working on at the moment. the ideas are flowing, the writing is flowing (not that you can tell that from this), it's like a light came on in some blocked, remote part of my brain that i had forgotten even existed and it's just so cool!

being a bit superstitious, i actually credit how this day has gone (the good bits) to the fact that i was wearing the cool grey beads molly sent me today--two strands of them. they gave me some kind of strength, like a talisman. they felt smooth and cool around my neck, like good medicine. and they looked spectacular. thank you molly, they are definitely magic beads. :-)

i promise all those ideas will be more in evidence tomorrow, just wanted to capture some of the manic monday feeling it's given me this evening...

sleep deprivation

i didn't sleep well last night. that happens sometimes. it's like i forget how to sleep. but it passes. when i get tired enough. my mind always goes a little wonky when i'm sleep deprived, but i suppose that's not unique. since i wouldn't want you to miss out, i thought i'd share some of the thoughts rants ramblings that have gone through my mind this afternoon:

1. i started yet another sewing project without finishing any of the others that i have started. i wonder if there are meds for this. it seems that what i like is cutting into the fabric, which is strange because my new sewing machine is wonderful and i love to sew with it.
2. i'm reading christian jungersen's the exception in the original danish--undtagelsen. and in telling amanda about it, and looking it up on amazon, i realized that i actually HAVE the book in english, so why am i slogging through the danish? the book came highly recommended by our best friends and i'm 82 pages in and hate all of the main characters. they're self-absorbed, righteous, and totally unappealing. how will i tell my friends? and how will i ever finish it? will i like them better (the characters, not the friends) if i switch to english?
3. if you check your flickr stats, your viewing goes WAY up on monday, after the weekend. that must mean there are a whole lot of people on flickr during work hours.
4. i wonder if there's a cocktail that goes with pancakes?
5. back to flickr. i am completely mystified as to what causes a picture to be popular because i think it has nothing to do with the quality of the actual photograph. case in point:  i discovered a group the other day called stick figures in peril. i thought that was such a hilarious idea that i dug out a picture of a stick figure in peril that i took several years ago in phuket. (goodness knows that if a stick figure is indeed going to find itself in peril, phuket is definitely where it will happen.)  and so i joined the group and posted it. that picture has had 593 views since i uploaded it on friday or was it saturday and has skyrocketed to my second most viewed photo behind the one that the moo people sent out in their december newsletter. and it's not even a very good picture, it's just funny. 

i think we all hope i get a good night's sleep and am back to normal tomorrow. whatever that is.