if you think about it...

...santa claus is a rather scary idea. you've got a bearded old man in a funny suit who uses candy to lure small children onto his lap to tell him their secrets. after which, he sneaks into their locked houses via the chimney in the middle of the night, eats all of their cookies, leaves some wrapped packages containing odin only knows what and disappears again into the night, flying away without a trace in an archaic mode of reindeer-drawn transport. still wearing his funny suit and hiding behind that beard.

it's practically the clinical description of a paedofile-leaning terrorist.

who came with that idea anyway?

speed dating and that fizzy feeling

over the past few days i have come to understand the concept of speed dating (i realize i'm quite possibly left behind in the mid-noughties with this notion and perhaps no one does it anymore). speed dating in the sense of a fast, intense conversation with a new person, where you ask a series of set questions and form a quick impression. tho' my purpose was quite different than selecting a date (what with husband being a keeper and all) i think that the almost instantaneous sense of whether you click with a person is actually the same. i have effectively speed-dated more than 60 people in the past few days and there are handful that i could almost instantly tell that i would like to hang out with and get to know better.

during two of the conversations (quick word about my project: over a period of ten days, i'm assessing the english skills of 120+ people who work with children) i actually had goosebumps. i was left feeling decidedly fizzy and longing for more time. interestingly (and to my relief), those who i didn't connect intensely with didn't produce an opposite reaction of revulsion - it was more like the conversation was over quickly and there was no fizz. this reaction only marginally had to do with the language skills of the person in question.

this, of course, got me thinking. what is it that attracts us to other people? after this experience, i think it's something quite subconscious and perhaps even intangible. or it involves a whole lot of signals that we both give and receive of which we are almost completely unaware on a conscious level. i don't even think it has that much to do with the topics being discussed, it's just a kind of instant connection. chemistry perhaps? or maybe an ability to pick up on the energy or aura another person radiates?  whatever it is, i was left wanting more.

i can tell that i need to spend more time out among people. that fizzy feeling definitely gives me some much-needed energy.

*  *  *

holy crap, i can't stop thinking about this.

*  *  *

happy weekend, one and all!

loving right now

things i'm loving right now...

...the house is slowly beginning to look like christmas.

...5-6 eggs a day.

...that husband is sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea, listening to a radio program about vikings.

...the big project that i'm playing a little part in at the moment.

...my new iPhone 4S (how did i live without this?).

...reading the cadfael books by ellis peters. nothing like a 12th century detective monk who knows everything about herbal remedies to put things into perspective.

...thinking about all of the exciting things in the year ahead.

...this little interview i did on kamana's blog. mostly because it made me realize that i'm really content with right now.

...that aside from a slight moment of mania on discovering the lego weaponry aftermarket for my nephews, i'm doing really good on not going crazy this christmas.

...a good night's sleep.

...bunny buns.

quaint little churches: part II

Hejnsvig

Stenderup

i'm beginning to think my theory that all danish churches have dutch renaissance architecture is a little off. two more little country churches dash my theory. so i have a new theory: churches in denmark are painted white. or is it just a hypothesis? (i knew i should have paid attention in high school science class instead of reading dostoevsky.)

the tyranny of the gift list

there is a tyranny afoot in denmark. it's the gift list. families ask one another for a christmas wish list. and while it's all well and good to let those who love you know what you'd like, it seems that these lists end up chiseled in stone. not a single item that's not explicitly on the list will make its way under the christmas tree or into a christmas stocking. and frankly, that stinks.

it means that no one's going to get these gorgeous, durable, well-made, hand-woven tea towels or these beautiful one-of-a-kind knives. i've been participating in a handmade market this weekend and last and tho' many people pass through and look - and they especially stop and talk to the man who is making these beautiful knives - they're not buying anything. and i find it very frustrating. these are beautiful, unique items that no one else will have. and that's actually the problem. i heard a man say yesterday that he thought his son would love one of these knives, but he didn't dare to buy one because it wasn't on his son's list. it's not even that the knives are prohibitively expensive - they're well within a normal family christmas gift price range.

i despair a little bit about what to do about it. the handmade movement that is sweeping the world is definitely skipping denmark. it seems that if it's not over-designed, industrialized and exactly like the hansens next door have, it's not going to sell. unique, beautiful, one-of-a-kind items just won't do. and people are afraid to use their own imagination in buying gifts for their loved ones - they won't buy anything that's not on the wish list, even if they think the person might like it. i heard a man on the radio yesterday say that if his grandchildren didn't get their wish list to him in time, then they didn't get anything for christmas at all. can you believe that? he was so resistent to knowing his grandchildren and what they might like that he'd rather not give them anything if he had to think of it himself?

the wish list takes all of the fun out of gifts - both for giver and receiver - there's no surprise, there's no imagination, there's no creativity needed. and i think it renders the whole thing rather empty for all concerned. i'm not going to participate in it anymore. we have to start somewhere.

things i learned this week...

gratuitous bunny shot

~ zumba is HUGE among the over-forty set in the back of beyond. (don't worry, i haven't tried it, so the populace is uninjured.)

~ whatever lego wants, lego gets.

~  sometimes people are just assholes and there's not much you can do about it. it's best for your sanity to just get over that.

~ when the child gets sick, she goes down fast. and whines kind of a lot.

~ you can work for the mayor and not have a clue as to what's going on in your community.

~ there's nothing to stop the wind between us and the north sea. (and lemme tell ya, it's blowing.)

~ a lot of people have their own domain.

~ teachers apparently have lower divorce rates than the general population (informal and potentially sketchy evidence based on a sample of 21 - tho' the divorce rate was 0% among those polled).

~  the handmade movement has not come to denmark.

~ those jerkies at dk hostmaster (the people who insist on centrally managing the .dk domains) are ROTTEN at customer service.

~ sometimes when the bunny escapes, it's permanent.

*  *  *

i'm sure there's more, but that's what i've got right now.  happy weekend, one and all!!

more soon....

i am working on a very interesting project...take delusions of grandeur, neuro-linguistic programming, a crazy american guru, daycare folks, teachers, the english language, lego and microsoft and shake it all together in the middle of nowhere and you've got my project.

more soon...