A few of you out there have actually read a few or *gasp* many or most of my posts since I launched fivenineteen in September 2009.
Somehow, my weekends end up just as quiet - or just as busy - as they are supposed to be. It fascinates me how sometimes a jam-packed weekend is as relaxing as one with close to zero plans and a veg-fest on the couch or here with the laptop.
Those of you - all two or three of you - who read this Blog regularly - may remember over Labor Day weekend, for example, how I had zero plans. This weekend was a whole different story.
And yes, it's a fivenineteen double-shot bonus weekend, for here's yet another post.
Majorly awesome school classmates reunion (girls night potluck)
I started posting awhile back about "the ones who really know you." And we've expanded this 3 or 4 times a year potluck gathering outward - this past Friday we had 10. 10 of us who know eachother back to elementary school and junior high years, so ready to burst with conversation and laughter we never made it to the dining room table nor the wonderfully remodeled living room our hostess C has in her gorgeous home. Nope - it was all about hanging out in the kitchen and the kitchen island with munchies and wine. One of those amazing nights where "all of a sudden" it's midnight.
This, my friends, is food for my soul. I come away from these gatherings so energized and refreshed!
Gym workout
I probably didn't get to sleep until 2am early Saturday following that potluck. I was so awake and happy it was hard to get to sleep. I shamelessly love to sleep in on weekend mornings - but hopefully not past 9:30am or so otherwise I feel I'm wasting the day away. I lounged around in the PJs and made some coffee - oh the delicious luxury of lingering. I made a pot of Seattle's Best Coffee Henry's blend as it was on special at the grocery store. Forza coffee is still my hands down favorite brand but I'm trying to be a tad bit frugal (despite the fridge and phone both putting my debit card into overdrive last month) by finding other brands which don't have that overly roasted bitterness Starbucks is known for. And how awesome to pull those coffee beans from MY NEW FRIDGE/FREEZER. Halle-freakin-lullejah!
After a few cups of coffee and a light breakfast I hauled my ass down to the gym for 45 minutes on the treadmill (walk-run intervals) plus some free weights and side crunches with the fitness ball. It's just a 5 minute drive from my house, and I have not been going as regularly as I was a few months ago. Every time I get my bill I think, sheesh, just go! The recent remodel/upgrade is amazing. So I brought my iPod and just hit the treadmill for awhile, like I was doing when I was training for my first 5Ks last year. It felt good to get back on the treadmill, watch some hockey on the CBC channel on the treadmill TV and rock out to my iPod. Too bad there weren't any hot guys - or any guys - playing squash on the courts in straight shot view from the treadmills. I figured more people would be in the gym on a Saturday afternoon given the weather was yucky.
Lo and behold who should flag me down from the upper interior balcony but my past trainer, Bruce, who worked my butt off last year for a few months. He's a great trainer and had the most creative, weird-ass but effective ways to change around the weight machines to isolate areas like triceps, hamstrings or pecs. And he introduced me to the medicine balls as well as planking. I was so sore at work those next mornings I was probably walking around like I had ridden a horse all day. Good stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to carve out more time/dollars to have him train me a couple of nights a week like last year. Middle age is a reality blast in both the face and body and I need to rebuild lost muscle tone in a huge way. And -ahem- where are those Jillian Michaels DVDs?
Karaoke...and Country Music on a night out - combined
Collective gasp/faint anyone? Here's the deal. I love music - anything but country. And karaoke? Fugeddaboudit. Seriously. I had a shitty experience at a work related function with alcohol-soaked karoake at a restaurant (as an observer, not participant) at an impressionble time just out of college and it really soured me. I have a lot of great friends who enjoy doing karaoke but they know it's just not my deal. And I love music but country is probably way down on my list of loves.
So how was this night different? I changed my tune - no pun intended. This night was karaoke but backed by an aweome live band with a huge audience of 800 or so. Not the pre-recorded karaoke with porn star rejects in the cheesy videos. Yes, I have no opinions.
This was the final round of a country music karaoke competition at the Snoqualmie Casino, about 30 miles east or so of my suburb. What a superb facility - and huge! My friend T's boyfriend D was a finalist (wow!!) in this contest and it was absolutely amazing to be there. It was my first time meeting him and he did a great cover of Guitars, Cadillacs (Dwight Yoakam as I learned). It was fun being there even if I wasn't totally familiar with everyone's songs other than a John Mellencamp, Shania Twain or Carrie Underwood song that's more mainstream pop/rock. And D took 7th out of 17 and got an awesome cash prize! He has a CD and a music video out so he's no stranger to the industry. It was wonderful to meet him in person and cheer him on!
It felt great to brush off two things I don't normally care for - country music and karaoke - to support a friend and her boyfriend plus have a fun night out. And a couple Tanqueray and tonics helped too.
Silpada jewelry
Can I do this - take this on as a side business? How much freaking spare time do I have? Am I crazy?
I love all the party-based home shopping lines - Tupperware, PartyLite, Pampered Chef, the list goes on. I've probably hosted a few parties over the years and attended many more as a guest. And loved it. The jewelry is fantastic. Most of it is sterling silver based which is perfect for my skin tone.
I met up with a consultant over coffee this afternoon and have a lot of reading to do. We'll see how this pans out.
HOCKEY
So when I mentioned I have a hockey game tonight to the Silpada friend I met with for coffee this afternoon she asked how old my hockey kids were. How HILARIOUS to clarify that...it's actually ME that plays! Not kids! Holy crap, how funny! I haven't had to clarify this since I marched into a proshop 7 years ago with a list of equipment to buy - convincing the shop associate it was for ME, and not kids. Don't all middle-aged suburban blonde women around here play hockey?
I love my new team. We've got a ton of potential and played 1000% better than our inaugural game last week. Nowhere to go but up!
I had THE funniest Fail tonight in warm up. We were doing the typical "corners" drill, where you split into two groups in the corners and take turns skating out, catching passes and taking shots on our goalie to warm him up. Been doing this for years.
Well, I missed catching one of my passes but the puck was somehow at my feet and I thought I'd do a cool quick turnaround and continue toward the net. The turnaround was cool but as I started forward again I must have caught an edge because I went SPLAT belly flop on the ice and landed spread eagle . Dang, the poor girls took the brunt of the impact. Could be some bruises tomorrow.
And I broke a nail too later on.
That's a good game in my book...along with a few cool bruises.
I'm fascinated with corporate work cultures as a lot of you may know. As a corporate worker myself, I dive in deep and do whatever I can to get acclimated, develop rapport and relationships and be productive/add value from day one wherever possible, but still in parallel try to hover above it all as an outside observer. My work life has consisted of shorter-term consulting and contracting engagements since pulling the plug on a 7-year stint in 2006, so there's been a lot of opportunity to zoom in and out.
And, it's fueled my closet sociologist curiosity big time too. Sigh...me and my virtual clipboard.
Over the last four years I've had the privilege of peeking under the hood into quite a few different companies...7 if you include both the companies themselves (plus their external clients if that was the focus.) 8 if you include the pro bono work I did earlier this year while I was job hunting - our team was working hard to get that fire lit - gathering kindling, gently shielding any possible sparks from rain or high winds to get a steady flame going. Could it really turn into a paid work engagement?
In fact, the picture in today's post is a shot of one of the work spaces our team camped in earlier this year. Our CEO had a really cool part-time office suite arrangement. Rather than sign a full-time monthly lease he used a management company that sets up temporary, as-needed office space for small businesses worldwide, so we'd be stationed either at this location or more downtown depending. I see my purse on the chair at far left - we'd just come back from a quick lunch. Yes, the never-fails-me Louis Vuitton Saleya with the Damier brown check exterior and amazing red lining. One of my favorite interviewing and work travel handbags. Perhaps I carried it that day to bring a bit more 'luck' to our mix.
I did a lot of interviewing over the past year and while it's hard to describe - this is my first attempt 'saying' it in words - it utterly fascinates me how the same - THE SAME - place I stepped into as an interview candidate can flip from seeming so calm to an utter hair-on-fire 27-ring circus of madness after being there actually working and getting acclimated.
And I think back on the other places I've worked...some are super fast-paced while some - at least from my viewpoint - THINK they're fast-paced but really aren't. Some places probably had happy dust flying around in the air ducts - people were so cheery and positive even when things were going to shit. And other places with relative calm, steady-state operations, well, people found more time to bitch. It's hard to express all of this in words, but the contrasts just fascinate me. Maybe I'll keep working on this in future posts.
So, just how big is this new job "onion" anyway? Right now the layers seem endless.
The same halls I walked as an interview candidate not knowing a soul save for the hiring manager I'd just shaken hands with are now full of people I engage with daily on TONS of open tasks, issues and challenges. And, hopefully time out for a good laugh to blow off steam. Sense of urgency and sense of humor...those two rhythms burn deep in my being and I try to live them out to my best every day.
The same meetings I used to attend as a fly on the wall as a newbie are now chock full of things for me to do, develop, report on and present. Long gone are those days of bliss when I was simply trying to follow discussions and understand the massive MASSIVE amounts of lingo and acronyms. Oh, and learning the names and voices of those on the conference calls. The issues discussed used to mean nothing as I had zero context. Now, casual comments or questions/concerns from the teams...now they are borderline keeping me up at night - or, more often than not - keeping me very busy during the day.
I feel like I'm on a teeter totter that could start tipping either way...I remember the stress of not working for months and the unknowns waking up every day wondering if THIS would be the day that email or phone call would come through - The Next Gig. And, fast forward nearly five months, I'm starting to feel the pressure. We've got some major things launching in the near future. Being comfortable being uncomfortable.
And so much has changed - my work tasks, my office location and a few faces have come and gone on the team too. At this company, none of this is unusual in a relatively short timeframe. In fact, if it wasn't happening I'd be concerned. So when the stress starts to boil upward in me during the workday, I take a moment to close my eyes and remember, "you're getting PAID for this stress." When I get frustrated with someone's behavior I take a moment to remember the same.
I rarely lay awake at night now mulling over open tasks or upcoming meetings. That used to be a big part of my Sunday night routine in my mid/late 20s, especially when I was supervising teams. Fast forward a few years and thanks to a little more wisdom plus taking up hockey, Sunday nights don't stress me out so much anymore. Plus, being a little older and having been through - and survived - many varieties of stressful situations, I can take things in stride. And as my Dad so wisely told me many years ago, "you'll feel better when you're there working the problem." Meaning, don't worry about it off the clock. He's right.
After all, we're doing great things on this team, but we're not curing cancer or ending world hunger.
Now it's time for another cup of coffee and time to plunge into the weekend. Oh Monday, I see you in the distance - your time will come soon enough.
For now, it's all about you, Saturday.
Perhaps it was my Mom's innocent, last-minute slick of red lipstick on me at age 4 or so before a dance recital. Ever since, I've been fascinated with makeup.
And I guess I've come a long way from secretly applying makeup in the bathroom in junior high when Mom wouldn't let me wear it on a daily basis, haha. Sometimes she'd give me some huge bonus makeup collection that Estee Lauder or whomever was offering around the holidays and would let me wear makeup for special occasions like a party or night out. By around 9th grade or so, I was wearing it daily and have pretty much done so ever since!
I'm just going with this fascination, addiction, obsession - whatever you want to call it. I have no reason for where it comes from but it's been a lifelong joy. Maybe it's partly because my eyes are fairly deepset and round, so I have a lot of 'room' so to speak of to experiment with eye makeup.
The pic here is my latest eyeshadow collection - believe me it's come and gone over the years but I'm very proud of it. I know, I know...it's a lot. Well, actually this is pretty small potatoes to some of the other collections I've seen online and elsewhere.
So what do we have here?
On the far right are the 3 Urban Decay Books of Shadows. Yes, I am proud to say I have acquired all 3! The most recent NYC themed one just recently launched and after much debate I caved and purchased it. For those who have not seen these books, they not only have a pull-out drawer of 16 shadows with samples of their 24/7 liners and Primer Potion, but also a decorative popup with a mirror. Great fun - what's not to love about pop-up? Didn't we all love pop-up books as a kid? Not to mention the shadows are incredibly pigmented and gorgeous. There are a few with a lot of shimmer and glitter and that can be a problem with 'fallout' onto your cheeks as it's called, but if you use a good primer such as Urban Decay Primer Potion or MAC's paint pots it really makes a difference. Remember to pat on the shadow on the lid at first with your brush...don't rub or sweep it on the lid.
Urban Decay is "beauty with an edge," as their tagline says. And, it's true. Look at those shadow colors. They aren't for the faint of heart. BUT the great thing is that while many of them look very bright or intense, they're very layerable. And I love to pair up a bright shade on the lid with a more neutral color for the crease or outer v of my eye.
Now, the Urban Decay Naked palette is at bottom center of the picture. This one has been flying off the shelves and has been all a-twitter out there on the blogs and chitchat I've seen/heard. And, without question, it ROCKS. These shadows are some of Urban Decay's more neutral shades, and the case is a gorgeous brown velvet with a magnetic closure - perfect for travel or in your purse for touchups. It also comes with a sample of their Primer Potion and a dual-ended 24/7 liner...one side is Zero (jet black) and the other is Whiskey (a rich brown). The 24/7 liners are super creamy and perfect for lining the waterline (the area between your lashes and your eye itself), as they go on wonderfully without any pulling or tugging necessary.
The large, black, rectangular palettes at top and center are from MAC. I was a huge fan of MAC (and still am), long before Urban Decay started sneaking onto my radar, and, ultimately, into my wallet. Hey, a little competition never hurt anyone.
MAC also is known for dramatic and theatrical makeup, but if you scratch below the surface they are wonderful with great, basic neutrals too. Again, I enjoy pairing up something more dark or dramatic with a neutral to temper it down. I work in a corporate - and very casual - environment and my style is not what I'd call super trendy but a teensy bit of edge is fun. MAC shadows come in individual black plastic pots with clear, plastic lids. Awesomely bullet-proof for travel or just throwing in your purse. The problem is, when you've got about - ahem - 50 or 55 of them, they take up a lot of real estate on your dresser.
So, I purchased the black empty palettes you see in the picture and started de-potting. Yes, this is an actual term...do an online search for "depotting MAC eye shadows" and you'll likely see quite a few results. It involves knives, a flat iron and purchasing some flat magnets to stick on the back of the shadow pans once they're depotted. Long story short it was a project, but I am very glad to have de-potted all of mine now into sleek, black palettes. Going forward I will only purchase their pan eyeshadows - already depotted and magnetized - to just plop into that one palette that only has two lighter shades in it. And, I have to say it, I only purchase MAC online or at my favorite MAC counter at the Bellevue Square Nordstrom, because those girls are fabulous. The MAC store near me in Seattle...wayyyy too much attitude. I have no time for that shizz.
Oops, wait, I see there are a few MAC quads in there too. One was custom (the palette came empty, the one that has the brighter blue/green/yellow shades in them...part of my de-potting project) and the other two were special edition collections...Spiced Chocolate (the browns/berries) from the Cult of Cherry collection, and Photo Realism (the soft greens). The danger with pre-made eyeshadow quads is that there is at least one of the shades that is a total bust that you never use. So, a waste of money. However, these pre-made palettes are the exception so we're good there.
The 4-shadow MAC quad directly above the Naked palette is from MAC's Hello Kitty collection, which was another major hit in early 2009. My quad is the Too Dolly quad and I really only use the light creamy shade right now (Yogurt, which is also in MAC's permanent eyeshadow collection). Yeah, I fell for the cute packaging and all - rare for me but I admit it. C'mon, it's Hello Kitty, people. What's not to love?
Let's see, what else do we have here...oh, just to the left of the Naked palette is LORAC's Color Me Couture. It was a special offering from Sephora awhile back and I jumped all over it. Never mind the gorgeous velvet and sequin packaging (which you can't see in this picture)...LORAC shadows are amazing. In fact, I was seriously into LORAC well before MAC come to think of it. As you can see, these shadows are rich, smokey neutrals and are just amazing to play with. The dual-ended brush that comes with it is a little dorky (most are dorky with palettes like these - invest in your own wonderful brushes and skip the chintz) but the shadow quality is excellent and the shades are wonderful.
Above the LORAC palette are two Stila quads...one pre-made and one I built custom. The Stila Original Smokey Eye Talking Palette is a novelty out there, as you press a button inside the palette and a pre-recorded voice tells you how to use the shades! Love this!
I guess the smokey eye trend is still alive and well even after a couple or three years. It's a very fun look, but it takes a lot of practice, good brushes, technique and blending. I used this "original" palette tons of times when I was job interviewing over the last year or so...doing my signature "corporate smokey" look...meaning, a little makeup for punch/panache but not too dramatic. And it was always a hit for work travel too.
The custom Stila palette (built from me choosing the shadows I wanted to plop into the magnetized palette) are more metallic neutrals and a wonderful shimmery plum shade that is great with my hazel colored eyes. I got inspired watching a YouTube tutorial by someone who has similar coloring!
And continuing upward in the picture are the two small Chanel quads, both from special collections. I hate to admit I spent nearly $60 on these - apiece - which is less than I spent on the Urban Decay Naked palette or any of the Books of Shadows.
Chanel, I expected more. Your products rock - love the makeup primer, mascaras and perfume. The eyeshadows, notsomuch. These have been far too powdery and flyaway on me - disappointing for sure.
And beyond this there are many more eyeshadow brands I'm intrigued with...Kat von D, Smashbox and Makeup For Ever for starters. I am a fan of their other products but haven't ventured into the eyeshadows just yet.
On the other hand, I've got enough to keep me busy for awhile.
My debit card went whooooooosh as I swiped it to purchase a new refrigerator earlier this week! I did not expect to need a new fridge right now as my current one is barely 8 years old. Aren't major appliances supposed to last longer than that?
A couple weeks ago I noticed something seemed a little off or weird when I opened my fridge but I didn't think anything of it. Then, the next day it was obvious. Everything was starting to smell ripe and all the ice in the freezer had melted. The fans sounded normal and the lights were on but no more cooling or freezing was going on.
I tried the trick I did when I thought my dryer had stopped producing heat - a quick off and on flip of the circuit breaker switch was the secret - for now. Presto - the dryer dries with heat again!
Not so much for the fridge/freezer.
Ugh. I did some research online and talked to a few people who said yeah, it's likely the compressor that has failed. And replacing it is about half the cost of just getting a new fridge. So after mentally grumbling about this I made a note to cancel the repair appointment I'd scheduled. I decided I was just going to bite the bullet and get a new fridge. No need to pay someone $100ish to tell me I need a new fridge, right?
I tried to reason with myself and think things like hey, it's not the holidays, you're not entertaining 20 people for dinner any time soon, so being sans fridge is OK, although a huge temporary pain in the ass. And it's the equinox/start of fall this week, which is is a wonderful time for changes and new beginnings.
I did more looking around online and had a few models picked out, plus I knew what my must-haves would be: white on white and a bottom freezer drawer.
And, I waited a bit before making my purchase. I've been working hard to rebuild savings since getting back to work and really didn't want to shuffle too much around, nor did I want to use credit cards. So, I made it a good week plus with no fridge and just used a small, portable cooler with ice for perishables. I researched online to get an idea of prices and all, and...more grumbling...started throwing away food that had gone bad. Thankfully I had not had to do this since our big storm and blackout of 2006. Many homes around here were without power for over a week that winter, and it was likely warmer by that time in my fridge than in the rest of my townhouse. I hate throwing away food but there was no choice then or now.
So yes, admittedly, part of my reason for waiting to purchase was for another paycheck to hit my bank account. Once that happened I set off ready to make a deal. I knew what I wanted and how much I wanted to spend.
I was surprised at how many discounts I got at the store. They were already offering 15% off all major appliances and would have even deeper discounts soon after, which they promised to credit back to me. Free delivery! Free removal of my old fridge! A $75 credit from the state of Washington as part of an incentive to get older, less energy-efficient appliances off the grid permanently. AND a $100 gift card from the store itself! I will likely use it toward a smaller, backup fridge which will go down in my garage.
And what a segue...my garage. We'll get back to that in a second.
Keep in mind that after a week or more with a no-good fridge it becomes prime for science experiments. As in MAJOR MOLD. When the sales associate told me I would need to write down the model and serial number of the fridge I was getting rid of for the state of Washington credit program paperwork, I about died knowing I'd have to open that fridge yet again. So when I did that later in the evening I first opened the back slider door off my kitchen to get some fresh air, tied a bandanna I wear for hockey around my nose and mouth, held my breath, opened the fridge which now REEKS to high heaven, and jotted down the numbers.
I sure hope I won't have a toxic mold situation in the house here. I don't plan to open that fridge ever again.
Fast forward to today and woo hoo! The new fridge was on its way for delivery. The two guys showed up, very nice and friendly, and I showed them where the old fridge was. They had a plastic floor mat ready to slide the old one out and get it ready to haul away.
But then one of them asked a seemingly innocent question: is there a shut-off valve for your waterline? [I have an icemaker in the freezer, so the unit is hooked with a copper waterline off of the water heater down in the garage - pretty typical stuff]. He pulled my old fridge away from the wall and his face fell - there was no waterline shutoff valve on the back of the fridge.
What does this mean??? His delivery partner came into my house and the two of them explained that they could not remove my old fridge because there was no water shutoff t-valve on the back of the unit. And correcting that was something they are not authorized to do.
I stood there in my kitchen, looked at the two guys, looked at my fridge and just said FUCK.
What did it all come down to? A fucking t-valve. Fuckety fuck fuck fuck.
And how fucking ironic that it was this SAME company's delivery people who installed this very water line those 8 years ago! Now, due to liability they can't do that any longer, and due to code changes that work isn't even acceptable any longer! Can you believe this, people? I explained this to them and who knows if they understood or cared. I know it's not their fault. Times change and I'm pretty much a ditz with how things are supposed to be installed and set up. They're just supposed to WORK, dammit!
And how ironic a 22 cubic foot machine that was once a fabulous refrigerator has now been reduced to a disgustingly huge mold-hosting box, all for the sake of a missing t-valve water shut-off switch. Which is likely going to be $100+ for me to have a plumber come out and install on an already now worthless old fridge. I've got a voicemail into the guy who's done a lot of small repair projects for me over the years so hopefully he is around and can help.
So...in the meantime we put the new fridge down in my garage, one floor down from my kitchen. It's plugged in and nice and cool inside, but I am reluctant to re-stock it with food. Because once I get the t-valve on the old fridge installed I will then have to have the delivery guys come back, remove my old fridge and move the new one from the garage up to the kitchen where it belongs. So I'll have to empty out the new fridge beforehand. Believe me, they are coming back to fix this problem for free - no question there.
OK, through all of this I do try to keep a sense of humor, but believe me, I'm frustrated. I expected this fridge/freezer to last longer than 8 years. I take a teensy amount of comfort knowing this situation with an old-school-not-up-to-code-waterline-hookup is not unique; the guys told me they run into this very same problem every couple of weeks or so. I also just recently had to replace my cell phone as it also died after just two years (battery wouldn't hold a charge). I'm thankful I can afford to make these changes but am frustrated that things are not lasting as long as I thought they would.
And now I have a perfectly beautiful new fridge down in the midst of my junky garage I've procrastinated cleaning out for over a year.
Guess this is another reminder to pay attention to my garage, just like the garage door karma issue earlier this year!
Ummm, OK. So I wrote earlier (see "Extremely North") about my bewildering love of the Arctic and my crazy-ass dream to someday take a guided tour through Spitsbergen.
And it's been a good but tiring workweek so I am at home, relaxing and felt like having popcorn for dinner. So, I did. Geez, normally September here in the Seattle area is a summer-like "Indian Summer" (is that even politically correct as a term nowadays??) even if our normal summer is crappy. But nope, the fog in the morning and clouds/drizzle during the day are here in full force. Call this summer a bust save for a few days in late July or so. I lit my giant 3-wick candle on the hearth, I hear the rain glistening and tickling outside and look forward to a glorious, relaxing evening in. Yep, time to recharge. Tomorrow night it's out for dinner downtown and dressed up for a show at the Paramount Theatre, so I'm OK with slouching around tonight.
My DVD collection is rather sparse...I have 5 to be exact. Yeah, movie buffs out there you are likely shocked, but I'm really not into movies. When I do go to one, I'll see it in the theatre and really don't feel a need to "own" it in a personal library. I do enjoy On Demand and the occasional rental but for the most part I am an eat/drink/conversation girl when I go out (or stay in) and watching a movie isn't my top choice.
OK back on track here...my DVDs consist of: the Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred workout, a documentary by Spike Lee called When the Levees Broke, which is an OUTSTANDING collection of film footage, interviews, heroes and blunders from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a (Brazilian) Portuguese series of language lessons, the Cosmos TV series (from PBS, narrated by the late, great genius Carl Sagan c. 1980) and, now, my Norwegian lessons. Although let me back up - whoops - for these Norwegian lessons are just on audio CD as supplements to my textbook, not DVDs. So, wow...I guess I only have 4 DVDs actually! What else would I add to my sparse collection? Hmmm, probably the Sex and the City complete TV series. Never get tired of watching those shows...and I was late to the party as I didn't have HBO until well after the series wrapped.
So...back to the Norwegian. I know that most Scandinavian nations have a good grasp of English as a 2nd or perhaps 3rd/4th language but I am determined, if I'm going to do this Spitsbergen trip one of these years, to learn a fair amount of Norwegian so I can hear/read what's around me and, hopefully, carry on some decent conversations. Plus I have a pretty good ear for languages, despite not a drop of Nordic blood in me that I'm aware of.
Snakker du norsk? (Do you speak Norwegian?) Right now, "...jeg kan snakke litt norsk." (I can speak a little norwegian). Maybe "miniscule" is better than a little for now.
I sit on my couch, book in hand, CD playing and repeat along with dialogues. I always wonder how "real" a lot of these foreign language lessons really are with street cred. Meaning, do the words/phrases sound super dippy or formal in real life? Still, I find it valuable, along with understanding the pronounciations of consonants, vowels and letter combinations.
My next lesson is dialogue about making breakfast together. Og vi skal lage norsk frokost. "We will make a Norwegian breakfast."
Anyway, I'm having fun dabbling and speaking along with the dialogues. And breakfast sounds good - why am I so hungry after a big lunch today and popcorn for dinner?
Until next time...vi sees!
September 14th marks my 1 year anniversary of this Blog launch! Woweee!! Weeeeeeeeee!!
And how fitting - and how completely, deliciously by accident - that my Blog is a Virgo. You see, I'm a Taurus, a fellow earth sign, AND my rising (secondary) sign is Virgo. Guess there really are no coincidences eh? That was totally NOT part of the reason - to launch sometime in Virgo land. It just WAS and IS and happened that way.
Yep, I love me some Virgos. I have a lot of great friends who are Virgos and come to think of it the last guy I dated for more than 6 months or so was a Virgo...hmmm...anyway lots of good chemistry for me no matter how you slice it.
So. I think back to mid September 2009 and how I was out of work (and had been since end of that July). The "vacation" after wrapping up a busy work assignment was nice, for awhile, but at this point it was starting to get boring. And annoying.
And I remember taking the plunge in here, so excited and yet so not knowing what to write. I wrote something like...I have NO idea what's going to happen in here. And I like that. Yep, that's pretty much me whenever I plunge into something new. Especially something like this Blog, where I do it for sheer joy and relaxation. And not with any intent to reach a certain audience nor to necessarily please anyone. I've developed a small handful of Followers along the way, and for that I am most excited and grateful! And a few of you out there have randomly stumbled in here...if you have for the first or umpteenth time, welcome!
For what it's worth, I just go with what's on my mind and write in here. I try to show some decency with grammar and punctuation but on the other hand there are no rules in here. So I probably have a gaffe or two out there but I don't give a fuck really. I do sometimes go back and tweak/edit but for the most part it's not necessary. The words and thoughts just roll out of my brain on the first try into my fingers and here I am.
I'm just happy to still be doing this after a year of pretty consistent posting. And I definitely plan to continue. And continue the randomness. I think I've got stuff in here from job searching woes to travel lust to men lust to makeup reviews, 5Ks...yeah the idea to name this blog "random crap" was out there but I'm glad I stuck with fivenineteen as that's more my personal Brand overall.
Who knows where this will evolve, but again that's not the point of this Blog. Whatever happens, happens.
Meanwhile, join me in a happy First Birthday Toast! My best to all of you out there for your attention, support and good wishes.
I pressed my face against the airplane window in complete awe of what was below me. And I thought, "Can't we just stop here for a bit?"
It was the summer of 1985 and I was fresh out of high school and on a plane from Seattle to Amsterdam with a group of 40 headed for a 6-week tour of eastern Europe and what is now the former Soviet Union.
We were probably 30,000+ feet above northern Canada or Greenland, for the polar flight route saves a little time (but it's still a 9-hour flight or so). And the view below of ice, snow and pristine waters just hypnotized me. I've always had a passion for maps, geography and looking at pictures of places around the world, but here it was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! OK, well, from high up in a plane but still it wasn't a photo this time! Real life!
Was anyone living down there? What's it like?
Fast forward 24 years or so and I stumbled upon an article on cnn.com about Shishmaref, Alaska...a small town on a barrier island in remote Alaska - kind of near Nome - that is slowly washing away into the sea due to climate change. The permanent sea ice is now starting to melt, so the strong storms they are used to having are now tearing away at their land. The town is at risk of losing their unique way of life, culture and language dialect should they eventually have to leave and completely relocate elsewhere. Can you imagine? And the sheer expense of relocating a town...yikes.
So whether you believe that global climate change is something of a natural cycle in the universe (the Ice Ages are thought to be a phenomenon of our solar system passing in and out of an arm of our galaxy every 40,000 years or so - no joke), or something caused by humans - or perhaps both? Well, SOMETHING is happening in Shishmaref. Something severe enough to threaten hundreds of years of generations and history to just wash away into the sea. And that Something is happening in several other parts of the world.
I'm not one to get into the politics or debate over climate change. Let's deal with the facts and DO something - if we can. I guess stumbling upon that article last fall reawakened some interest I'd likely shelved since that flight to Amsterdam over Greenland so many years ago.
Guess I'm a budding Arctic scholar here!
I've dived (dove?) in head first, doing a ton of reading and research online and with books, learning all I can about the Arctic and the uniqueness of it. There are so many things to learn about...the geography, the issues with climate change, issues with the indigenous peoples, languages, flora and fauna, the courage and drama to find and sail the Northwest Passage, the long-elusive sea trading route...simply endless! Even a land dispute or two [look up "Hans Island" and you'll see what I mean]! Simply fascinating! Who knew an uninhabited rock in a far-northern strait would be the cause of such controversy between Canada and Greenland (Denmark).
This is one of those things where I don't question WHY I have this interest. I don't have any northern/Nordic family ancestry to my knowledge. But this interest burns strong enough in me to where I just GO and DO.
So my latest wild-hair trip I'm dreaming of is a trip to...Spitsbergen! Or Svaalbard, rather. I hear the sea kayaking is incredible. Now, now...I've learned a thing or two in all this reading I've been doing. First of all, you need to find this place on a map. Hint: it's the archipelago north of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The Arctic is not just snow, ice, igloos and polar bears. Surprisingly, as far north as Spitsbergen is, there is enough Gulf Stream activity in the ocean nearby so it is somewhat "warm" in the summer...meaning in the low 40s F (6-7c) for high temperatures. Remember, we're talking 78 degrees north latitude, so those temps in the summer are downright balmy by comparison. See the picture in this post? That's the town of Longyearbyen, with a population of over 2000!
I don't know what in hell has possessed me to think about a trip like this, but at the earliest it would be in summer 2011. Lord knows it would be an expensive, 5-figure and once in a lifetime, unforgettable trip. My house will likely need a new roof next year and of all things my refrigerator and freezer have decided to stop working in the past couple of days. Hmmm, how ironic, for here I'm dreaming about a COLD adventure and yet right here at home my chief source of COLD has apparently crapped out.
I'll likely have more to blog about in this quest/dream for a high Arctic excursion one of these summers. Until then, I was supposed to go to a big party tonight but have some mild stomach problems so I'm going to take a pass.
Instead I will crack open a new book I just ordered about how to speak Norwegian. If I'm going to do this trip some day, might as well be prepared.
