Standing in the way of control

Barf. Another live case oral examination tomorrow. Analyzing the international computermarket with focus on Dell computers. Am I boring you already?
My strategy is to make it look like I know what I´m talking about. But I don´t. Basically throw in some fancy words like "graphic processing units" and "SAP system customizations" every now and then. .
This stress makes me feel self-destructive. If I would have smoked once upon a time. And quit. This would be the day I would start again. I think Seb left a vodka bottle here somewhere. . .

In the cd player these days:
The Gossip - Standing in the way of control



Cherish radio. Dance like nobody is watching. Except if there is.

Hó hó hó we say hey hey hey!!

When I was in Iceland my father updated me on a few things. .
This was one of them.

How long have I been gone?
Ladies and gentlemen. This might very well be the icelandic contribution to Eurovision 2008. I don´t know about you but I can´t take my eyes off the keyboard-guy. His solo is amazing. We are going to SCORE!
....in Germany.

Mercedes Club - Ho, Ho, Ho, We Say Hey, Hey Hey



Did she just say "my body is like a steak"?
We are finally part of Euro-trash! What a partysong. Go Barði! :)

Music is my beach house

I just started a new course with the catchy title "Strategy and organisation management". They don´t really sugarcoat it for you. We already have an oral examination on friday where we are suppose to analyze the russian ice cream market and bring ideas to the table of how a domestic ice cream company is suppose to strategize in a competitive market economy?!! Yeah!
I think I need to put on my glasses for this. The keyword being: This.

"You cannot defeat a nation that enjoys ice cream at minus 40 Celsius" - Winston Churchill

This song is just too good to be true:

CSS - Music is my hot hot sex

Neither here Nor there

Back on Scandinavian soil, Lund. Imported from an amazing three week stay in Reykjavik. At the end of it there was utter snowkaos in Keflavik airport. The plane couldn´t leave on time cause they had to "DEFROST?!" the plane and showel the snow away. Defrost you say? Whatever they meant it didn´t sound comforting at the time.

The book-clubbers corner
I fell into a book my brother gave me by Bill Bryson, “Neither here Nor there” (travels in Europe). If you are big on travels this book is amazing. I find it especially amazing reading about the places I´ve been to myself. I´m dreaming of the day I start my Interrailing.

Here are a few lines from the book:

PARIS: “. . .Finally, the pedestrian light turns green and you step off the kerb and all the cars come charging at you. And I don´t care how paranoid or irrational this sounds, but I know for a fact that the people of Paris want me dead. . . .”

BELGIUM: “. . .I spent a couple of pleasantly pointless days wandering around Belgium by train. As countries go, Belgium is a curiosity. It´s not one nation at all, but two, northern Dutch-speaking Flanders and southern French-speaking Wallonia. . . The Flemings can´t stand the Walloons and the Walloons can´t stand the Flemings, but when you talk to them a little you realize that what holds them together is an even deeper disdain for the French and the Dutch. . "

Furthermore he says: – and I swear to god this is SO true (Marlous does this all the time!) –

“. . I once walked around in Antwerp for a day with a Dutch-speaking local and on every corner he would indicate to me with sliding eyes some innocent-looking couple and mutter disgustedly under his breath, ´Dutch´. He was astonished that I couldn´t tell the difference between a Dutch person and a Fleming. .”

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Radioini.
I am working at a crazy post office. And when I say crazy you don´t know the half of it. So I am listening to commercial radio from 7.30- 17.00 every day. You can imagine what that does to a girl.
Today I had enough of this instant replays of Rihanna (even though I love her umbrella), DJ Tiesto and poor mental Britney Spears (who apparently is soon to be saved by Dr. Phil). I´m all up in radio-gossip. So now I know Fisherman´s woman by heart. I didn´t know she was so shy and spoke with such an extreme icelandic accent including some "héddna". Didn´t she move to London.

Lift session w/Emilíana Torrini.

Emilíana Torrini - Today has been okay

p.s. You can stand under my umbrella.

Time running.

Happy New Year!!

Days, weeks and years went by. I wrapped things up in Sweden by turning in my essay. Devoted horror. I managed to get to Copenhagen without a scratch. On Ströget it seemed like everyone had gone just a bit hysterical. Christmas shopping and all kinds of madness. In Kastrup airport things were even worse. Our flight home was informed "cancelled" on all boards (great.) but rumors among Icelanders were that someone got a text message from Icelandair to ignore it..Doesn´t somebody have control over that flightboard??..people were going mad. In the midst of it all a little gospel choir started shouting out Jesus loves you! and Praise the Lord! soon enough big parts of the terminal were clapping hands and singing Oh happy day.
This is were I got back my lost Christmas mood and oh happy day we got to fly home at last.

Christmas has been amazing to say the least. Been quite a bit of snow here!! Ásrún, dad and I even made a 2 meters high snowman. I finally got to see the little baby boy who is the most beautiful thing in the world. As well as my great friends and family. Its been nothing but wonderful until 2 days ago when Bjarki and Maggi beat me and Brynja in Trivial Pursuit.

The annual 6.Y (my old high school class) - party was very colorful as always. A few of us ended downtown at Café Oliver slamming to Guns´n Roses Paradise city and what not..At this point Quentin Tarantino (who likes to spend his New Year in Rvk) was standing next to us on a table with hands in the air and two little girls in the net (hot stuff).

New Years yesterday. Right before lighting up the biggest firework we go all nostalgic and remember New Year of ´98 when 3 of the kids get sent to the emergency in light of explosives. Now the biggest one gets lit. The damn thing gets stuck in the bottle and is clearly about to explode right there in front of our house. It was every man for himself and in the nick of time we got to save grandma into the house. *Bang*

Normally I don´t like after midnight New Years parties with the whole expectations and all. But this New Years was the best ever! The old gang from Laugarnes neighborhood (L-town) went to NASA for "the last" 90s party. When you think 90s you think No Limit, Jump Around, Sandstorm, Snoop Dog, Sash, The Prodigy etc and believe me we got it all.. People dancing their ass off with neon lights. What better to go to a 90s party with the people you spent the 90s with?? The party was yesterday and it is legendary already.

The Prodigy - Breathe

Daylist.

When working at the Celtic we could always choose the background music played in the bar. All songs were part of some random playlists on the computer that had piled up a lot of shit over the years. This was such a great way to express emotion.

To this day I sometimes (mentally) put on a playlist to fit my day. Not that I really do it, but I do..
So think about that.

In march next year I´m going to a concert and the supporting band is Northern State.
Their Sucka Mofo is quite funny. There is so much interesting stuff out there.
Now, how crazy is this video?

Northern State – Better Already (USA)

they are so cute.

5 years on the road.

Dear readers.
Friends, relatives, acquaintances and especially the ones I don´t know or you slept with to get here..

My goodness it´s been 5 years. On the road again is celebrating it´s fifth birthday today and is soon starting school. We´ve had a lot to cover over the last five years and we´ve left a path of destruction in our way.

This morning I´ve been reading quite a bit of my “earlier work” (to make it sound an inch important). The 11th of december 2002 I´m looking back on two of my “most embarrassing moments” thus far... one being the smallest student in first grade, put into a santa claus costume and placed on the floor in front of all the senior students singing in a choir.
I have not yet recovered from that damage.

This is about the same time girls of The Magnificent Seven go to a Coldplay concert and end up (totally out of place) throwing drinks in the toilet at an "After Show" party. The good old days eh?

I should have known better.

So hikers, pack your bag cause it´s On the road again..

Willie Nelson - On the Road Again

Men.
I take the train to school almost every day (36 min). I don´t mind terribly cause it gives me time to drink my coffee, read the newspaper, listen music, daydream etc
So I´m drinking my travelcoffee minding my own business when... *SHOCK* in the corner of my eye I see a seemingly normal, sober and heterosexual man in his thirties..taking out 1/3 of a sweater that he is KNITTING in the presence of public.. *SHOCK, right?*
Now I know this is the 21st century and I´m being totally judgemental.. but at that moment I looked around and thought to myself...
Am I being Punk´d?

The Sounds – Living in America (Sweden)

ok, I´m over it. Fjuff. Had you worried there for a second.

Right now I´m waiting on Marlous to get here. Tomorrow is the 1st of december party our house. So if you are in the neighbourhood there is an open door.

I want to go see the little cute one:

Gréta Mjöll og Hólmfríður Ósk Samúelsdætur - Ó María (Iceland)

I´m a bit into...these days....dare I say it, nordic scandinavian hip hop.
There, I said it.
Don´t worry, it will pass.
Try saying “finnish rap” with a straight face. Didn´t work, did it?
How adorable are these boys?

Fintelligens feat. Petter & Peewee - Stockholm-Helsinki (Finland&Sweden)

Quarashi - Stick ´Em Up (Iceland)

Snook - Inga problem (Sweden)

About wasting time.
You can always tell when people have examperiods (like right now) ..they tend to spend an unhealthy and abnormal amount of time on time-sucking things like myspace, blogs, facebook and even reading my good-for-nothing-blog...of course followed by obsessive cleaning of everything and doing everyones laundry.
This goes for me as well. I need to be doing so much else than writing this, whatever this being. Nelly says, I am like a bird. Cage me and I won´t fly.

So memo to self: I have laundry tomorrow at 07.00.
But how much time does this person have? I mean I bet she is either writing like a last minute thesis or has several life altering exams tomorrow... But she is truly hilarious:
Tegan and Sara “Trailer Talk” Redub (exact same voice):



Don´t do drugs.

Tegan and Sara – So Jealous (Canada)

cleaning catastrophe

I am the worst housewife in history of...housewives. When mopping the wooden floor I managed to knock over the entire waterbucket. This obviously resulted in water everywhere!! You could litterally SWIM from one end of the room to the other...Classic move.

I also burn cookies.

Sahara Hotnights - Cheek to Cheek (Sweden)

Íslenska míní - færslan
Ýrr bloggar frá Svíþjóð. Skemmtilegur penni. Ég verð sérstaklega að benda á færsluna <Íslenskt slúður> Hver kannast ekki við þetta! :)
x drífa

Vive la fete - Touche pas (Belgium)

F.Y.I.
Why do I always feel like such a nerd and/or loser when I put on my seatbelt riding the local bus?? I am the only one. Always. The seatbelts are there for a reason people. Does this honestly relate to cool-kids-sit-in-the-back-of-the-bus teenage trauma? I mean if there is an accident..who is laughing?
(well maybe not laughing but..)

And the christmaslights are officially up. I´m drowning myself in christmassongs&movies already! Next week the corridor (that is where we live, 3 girls and 5 boys) is going to have christmas baking with arts&crafts! All together now: "we are neeeerds!"

On the other end of my metaphorical roap ...I think I was raised by wolves. I can´t keep a schoolbook down..honestly, how can anyone be forced into reading 4 books on uberboring semiotics (possibly the thing that will cause my death) It´s practically criminal. Unchristian even. A wolf would just eat the damn books. Better invite some relatives for a cup a tea.

These guys are genius!!Applause! Applause! A movie-clip capturing Pasila (Helsinki), where I spent a not-so-sober-year. "Years and years of floor-parties, we never get out of the building"(Ale). Their house is an exact image of ours. We used to make mountains of piled up Karhu-bottles. Vodka in snow.



Who made who - Space for rent (denmark)

Big Time.
I´m having one of those happy love is all around days where nothing gets you down. Bring Sally up. And I´m determined to spread the happiness around. Annoying, I know. Just came back from a big Sunday walk with a bigger scarf to hide my awful cold. There was frost on the ground and I saw this girl solo-moving four massive paperboxes. She fell over. When I offered to help her carry the boxes she was so overwhealmed with gratitude and surprise as if she believed kindness of strangers was just a myth.
A wise man (Joey on Friends) once said “there is no such thing as a selfless good deed”. And if helping that girl with paperboxes made me smile even more..then volunteering with the poor and hungry must be one big fat orgasm. Did I just say this outloud?

Never in my life have I started christmas shopping this early. In fact I´m almost done. I´m usually the one running around on Þorláksmessa (23 dec). The family is even getting bigger this year with my brother and his girlfriend Karen having a baby. They are going to be beautiful parents :D

"Swift never took a lift,
and neither did Robinson Crusoe do so".

Another one of the favorites.. Music makes my every day.
Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Big Time Sensuality

Living on the edge
Just started a new course on Storytelling within hotel&restaurant..I have no clue what its about yet since the first lecture was held in danish and todays lecture sounded as interesting as a pile of sand.
My attention goes to continue reading The Devil Wears Prada drinking coffee at my favorite music store/café in Malmö. Now if I only smoked i´d ve very sophisticated there..or sophistiqué as I would say were I to wave a cigarette...nobodys perfect and have we all learned from our mistakes.

Got back from Belgium two days ago. And what a great trip it was, although we spent most of the time being either drunk or hungover.

Now, to continue my telling I have to make a pause and teach you one very important flemish word.. (and from then on you won´t be able to not use in making a sentence).
The word is: marginaal and you can use it referring to people and/or a place inhabiting these people who are “living on the edge”. Sort of speak.

Example 1:
On Thursday Marlous and I went to meet Ines and Sheba at a very marginaal party..Why was the party marginaal? Because at this “party” there were max (MAX!) ten persons including ourselves..(five of whom I think were working there) The only solution to this problem was to get hammered. There we were: four girls dancing/limboing/singing dramatically alone on a massive empty dancefloor with a DJ about to cry with our stupid song requests. That is what I call owning the party..but we didn´t leave it at that. Once you go marginaal you only want to get more marginaal. We made this possible by going to the sadest karaokebar in town by which I have now haunted flashbacks of Marlous and Ines “singing” Ace of Base and people actually JUMPSTYLING (which is the most silly looking thing since sliced bread). I think this whole situation is at least in Top 3 of the most marginaal experiences of my life.

Example 2:

On Saturday we went to Ghent to meet friends of M, Nele&Stijn, who just had a babygirl. She was so tiny, beautiful and cute..with the little feet and everything:) When Stijn asked me to hold her I secretly got a total responsibilityshock (having killed the flower and all) I haven´t held a baby since my sister was one and now she is sixteen!

In the evening we were to meet Battal and Jutta for either a hip arty party or a very marginaal one. We miraculously landed in a pre-party with sort of strangers, Lizl and Fleur (who I met this summer in Antwerp) and some more strangers. Hip as we were we went to the hip cool arty party which was held in what I think was some strange russians livingroom (we had to ring the doorbell to get in&a 70-year-old man answered)..The party turned out to be too cool for us and we didn´t reach a higher level when a naked woman w/writings on her body floated around on stage.
So we were off to the marginaal party which was just that, marginaal. With countless of drinks the sweatty dancefloor was bumpin´ with music from the 90s (marginaal) At 5-6 in the morning people were still hanging in there, dancing to Britney bitch and what not, totally beyond saving from the marginaalness. Marlous and I somehow got home with the train at 8 the next morning.. All in a great party with greater people..Reminded me of my Nellys days in Reykjavik. Conclusion: Marginaal parties are the greatest! Stay uncool.

Song of the night by the cute Swede: Robyn&Kleerup – With Every Heartbeat


I´m off to a wine&cheese-evening at Ulrikas!

You´ve got mail!

Overdozed on coffee. Can´t see straight anymore. We are three girls trying to puzzle together some kind of essay on diversity within our own university. Running the last meters of this marathon-writing-course. My article on a segregated Helsingborg is getting published on thursday! And I´m leaving for Antwerp the same day:)

It is getting freezing here at night..runs below zero and I sleep in 2 layers of pyjama. Dear Santa, please make some snow.

On snow - You try to push a postwagon over-the-top FULL of christmascards in a snowstorm. You´ll love it.
Believe it, once again I´m working in the christmas-postelf-crew helping out the local post office delivering the BILLIONS of christmascards we icelanders choose to send. It´s becoming a tradition of mine during the holidays; torture myself with waking up at 7, surrounding myself with crazy people (who can know where you live just by knowing your name) and having my fingers nearly fall off due to frostbite and/or by getting them smacked in a mailbox. But it is a cheerful feeling delivering people post full of holiday spirit from their loved ones. I say Joy to the world!

Henry Mancini - ´Til there was you

Where does the good go?

I´m hungover and I woke up with a cocktail-umbrella in my hair.

I love birthdays. thank you people again and again for phonecalls, postcards, packages, messages etc - made me really happy:)

This year I wasn´t going to celebrate at all.. Karin and I were suppose to be diskplockers at the club in Malmö. When we arrive we get locked up in the Garderobe taking peoples coats. Sounds fun? It was not.

The party sucked. We were so bored in the garderobe we almost had a two-women-fashion-show with peoples coats...for the bouncers. We did not. Instead we smuggled beers into our nest..and decided to get wasted in the garderobe. Talk about closet-drinkers. Happy birthday.

At one the party sucked even more and after a few sad attempts to escape our post we finally got the go to leave. So we drank a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time. Ingrid joined in and the last thing I know we stumbled into Bodoni..before I knew it I was at the title of my post. All in all it was a great birthday in a garderobe.

Today Im laying in bed listening one of the favorites..Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Saras new video to "the con" is out!!:

Tegan and Sara - Back in your head

Heima - means 'at home'

I want to see this movie...

When you land in Iceland the flight attendant always says:

"Íslendingar, velkomin heim" ("Icelanders, welcome home")

It is such a nice feeling to land in Leifstöð, get out in the midst of nothing but lava and get that rain/storm smash in your face like being smacked with a wet tablecloth.

Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla

It would be recommended that I´d start to study now.
When I have too much to do..I usually (always) postpone everything to do in the middle of the night. When everyone is asleep.

I miss the drama. I need the drama. Everyone is settling down. Take "high school" - it was basicly one drama after the other (in one state or the other). It made the gossiping so spicy. Whatever happen to getting wasted and making out with strangers? What happen to having a crush on a person all wrong for you? What happen to the girl group-meeting to write a sms to some guy? Analysing every situation? Hopeless chases after the Romeos and Juliets?

I need to hang out with more single people.

I think I spent too much time laughing over this:
Torn by Johan Lippowitz w/Natalie Imbruglia

If this is not one of the greatest videos made I don´t know what is.
U2 - Numb


p.s. I have a confession. I clean the house to Kelly Clarkson. She is always so mad in her videos and that makes my floors so clean.