tomorrow. this beauty will come home to me.
even if i have to drive to sweden to find one.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
checking in
hello dahlings...i'm so sorry that i've been absolute rubbish at posting the past few days. the weather is simply glorious and i cannot bring myself to sit inside at the computer. plus, i'm attending a workshop this first part of this week, so it's been a bit difficult to find any time to write. i am, however, filling my waves of inspiration notebook with ideas and snippets and hilarious stories and i will share them when i'm back home tomorrow. the forecast calls for rain...
Saturday, June 07, 2008
BHAGs and such
going to oslo regularly makes me think about things. big things like the nobel prize. there's a nobel prize museum in oslo (which i haven't yet visited) and the first time i went to oslo, i stayed in the hotel where the peace prize winner(s) come out and greet the crowds. there's something cool about that.
DIGRESSION: it's a bit hazy for me as to why the swedish (not the SWISS) academy picks the prizes, but they are awarded in oslo and yet alfred nobel was swedish. something to do with kings and independence and being nice to the provinces, i guess. although i've been living in a country with royalty for ten years now, i don't really get all that business.
i was reading (you guessed it) haruki murakami's hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world, on the ship last night on the way back. and, being given to hyperbolic, sweeping statements, i announced to my husband, "if haruki murakami doesn't win the nobel prize for literature, there is no justice in the world and they should simply stop giving it out." and then, i said, "if we move to oslo, i'm going to make it my mission to get myself on the committee that picks the nobel prize for literature." he laughed and said, "i think you've been in the wrong business for that."
i reminded him of my (almost finished) Ph.D. in eastern european literature and that i wasn't without literary knowledge. but he pointed out (rather harshly, i might add), that the key words were "almost finished." then he said, "you'd have a better chance of achieving a goal of owning a ship in the next couple of years." while that might be nice, it doesn't really have anything to do with the nobel prize for literature, now does it?
but, this whole conversation, as disjointed as it may seem, got me thinking in general about BHAGs-Big Hairy Ambitious Goals. and why SHOULDN'T we pursue them? why should we be held back by common sense or reason? why couldn't i find my way into the hallowed circles of those choosing the nobel prize for literature? why shouldn't i try? or at least look into how one goes about it?
i didn't really imagine that i would be sitting on the pearl of scandinavia reading murakami and sipping a glass of white wine and that some important, scholarly-looking person would just saunter past and say "hey, we're over here discussing the next recipient of the nobel prize for literature and we wondered if you'd like to join us and tell us what you think about that murakami that i noticed you're reading." of course it's something one would have to WORK on. you'd have to write papers and publish them. you'd have to find out who the powers that be are. you'd have to start hanging out where you might meet them. if you're in the right place at the right time, things can happen. but they certainly won't happen if you allow yourself to be held back by silly old obstacles.
on the other hand, it might be fun to own a nice little tanker...but who is to say one can't have both? it's always good to have BHAGs...
DIGRESSION: it's a bit hazy for me as to why the swedish (not the SWISS) academy picks the prizes, but they are awarded in oslo and yet alfred nobel was swedish. something to do with kings and independence and being nice to the provinces, i guess. although i've been living in a country with royalty for ten years now, i don't really get all that business.
i was reading (you guessed it) haruki murakami's hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world, on the ship last night on the way back. and, being given to hyperbolic, sweeping statements, i announced to my husband, "if haruki murakami doesn't win the nobel prize for literature, there is no justice in the world and they should simply stop giving it out." and then, i said, "if we move to oslo, i'm going to make it my mission to get myself on the committee that picks the nobel prize for literature." he laughed and said, "i think you've been in the wrong business for that."
i reminded him of my (almost finished) Ph.D. in eastern european literature and that i wasn't without literary knowledge. but he pointed out (rather harshly, i might add), that the key words were "almost finished." then he said, "you'd have a better chance of achieving a goal of owning a ship in the next couple of years." while that might be nice, it doesn't really have anything to do with the nobel prize for literature, now does it?
but, this whole conversation, as disjointed as it may seem, got me thinking in general about BHAGs-Big Hairy Ambitious Goals. and why SHOULDN'T we pursue them? why should we be held back by common sense or reason? why couldn't i find my way into the hallowed circles of those choosing the nobel prize for literature? why shouldn't i try? or at least look into how one goes about it?
i didn't really imagine that i would be sitting on the pearl of scandinavia reading murakami and sipping a glass of white wine and that some important, scholarly-looking person would just saunter past and say "hey, we're over here discussing the next recipient of the nobel prize for literature and we wondered if you'd like to join us and tell us what you think about that murakami that i noticed you're reading." of course it's something one would have to WORK on. you'd have to write papers and publish them. you'd have to find out who the powers that be are. you'd have to start hanging out where you might meet them. if you're in the right place at the right time, things can happen. but they certainly won't happen if you allow yourself to be held back by silly old obstacles.
on the other hand, it might be fun to own a nice little tanker...but who is to say one can't have both? it's always good to have BHAGs...
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
planes, trains and...ferries!?!
taking off on the DFDS Crown of Scandinavia to norway late this afternoon.
will tell y'all about it on saturday!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
apropos shoes
the other day i tried to photograph my new shoes together with my peonies since they're complimentary colors, with the idea of posting here. then, in the meantime, the elementary wrote about shoes and whether one really has a need for so many. i'm not a total shoe fiend, but i did actually buy two new pairs last week and have to admit it felt great. here is one pair:
i admit, it was a bit problematic for me that these pumps are jessica simpson, since otherwise i find her to be seriously vacuous and fear that i actually lose brain cells whenever i hear her being interviewed (which thankfully isn't often). however, she's got some seriously good people designing shoes in her name. and this probably won't be the last pair of jessica simpsons i acquire. but i can restrain for now...
what IS that thing?
does anyone have any idea what this is?
you can almost, but not quite, get your finger under the blade (as husband demonstrates here)the little guy on top looks decidedly devilish, so we thought it might have something to do with tobacco. does anyone recognize it and know its purpose?
Monday, June 02, 2008
the chaos of my life
this picture simply says it all about my life at the moment. chaos. we may have the hans wegner "y" chairs, but there's nothing else in the kitchen--no fridge, no dishwasher, no SINK (that's the worst), no stove. everything is covered in dust. the floor is taken out, there are oak floorboards leaning against the wall. there's nowhere to cook. but somehow, we get by. maybe because of the sunshine, it all seems bearable.despite being covered with dust, it is a pretty cool lamp we made of driftwood, isn't it? :-)
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