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Sitting here at a Copenhagen youth hostel eagerly awaiting the clock to turn 2 so I can actually register using the inbetween time as an excuse for going online ;-) Luckily for me though I was allowed to leave my stuff here this morning so off I went to explore :-D Great fun, found the conference place immediately, have taken numerous photos of bicycles, archways, canals, tall houses, canals, bicycles and the occasional graffiti ;-) All will of course be revealed once I return home!! Had myself a danish lunch, weird sitting all by myself in a restaurant, but no way was I going to go to macdonalds or suchlike when in Denmark ;-) The portions here are humongous however!! The poor girl thought I didn't like the food, brought me ketchup and all, but come on a mountain of fries, a bowl of remulade, a tiny portion of salad and two whole fillets of fish... I am happy to report I managed to finish the fish and the salad :-) and the required Tuborg as well, but of course...

I am sooo looking forward to getting a bed though!! Slept intermittedly at the airport last night, always waking from weird dreams involving intense discomfort...strangly enough coaligned with wherever the armrests were jutting into me at that point ;-)

So today, having already gotten a feel for the place, walked all over and eaten, the plan is to have a lie down then head off and find me a mermaid and some leftover hippies ;-) Need to go see Christiania, would you believe I've never been there!? But thereagain this is only the second time I actually remember having been in Copenhagen, passing through the airport not a part of the count obviously.

Ahh...kinda forgot the lead in to the whole ramblings of a post .. Hi all, I'm in Denmark for the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research conference which starts tomorrow. Sincere apologies for the complete lackage of postings of late, am kinda going through the panicky stages of trying to organize all that need to be organized before we leave Scotland, pack everything, sell some stuff, give yet another batch, decide what to take with us to Japan oh and trying to function at school as well ;-) Yeah I know, no excuse, just a normal month in the Flakkfjolskyldan household :-) Flakk fjolskyldan incidentally means the wandering family, what I've come to think of as our new logo of sorts..

Gunnella, the extremely tired yet invigorated one... Over and out!

Shadowplay in the cemetary

Shadowplay in the cemetary
Originally uploaded by Gunnella.

Observing

Observing
Originally uploaded by Gunnella.

Been having sun here these past few days, used the opportunity to o out with my camera ;-) Am kinda saving up on sunny days in order to survive a stifling office all summer ;-D

The birthday bash!

Have now uploaded all the birthday pics, form cakemaking and clean house, through madness and mahyem, to well.... even more madness and mayhem ;-)

You can view the pics in chronological order as a slideshow here, or plain as thumbnails here :-D

Modern day stresses

Isn’t it funny how one wishes to live life one way, yet continues to cling to duties (often imaginary) that belong to a different sort of life. One makes the expectation upon oneself to be able to do both, and well at that.

So what is she on about now ;-) ?

I sometimes envy what I perceive as the simple life, one life, simple goals that don’t need mention, one village…. You get the drift. Yet I am perfectly aware of never ever being able to be happy under those circumstances, hey I even tried it for a few years, and there is no way, at least not yet, that I could live life that way. My best moments are those of diversion, travel, beginning something new, meeting new people, something not ensconed in the aforementioned imaginary simple life....so why the ponderings….
Well at the same time I feel a constant pang of guilt, mostly for not keeping in touch with all the people I feel I should be keeping in touch with, the people that I feel mum and gran would expect me to keep in touch with. I barely manage my own friends and acquaintances, yet I feel I should be communicating to great uncles and aunts, aunts and uncles once removed and so forth…. No matter that they have very seldom contacted me, it’s just that m&g always managed, that was the socially accepted norm for them, so I feel I should as well... not to mention the whole being 33 and not owning a home, not having finished my education, ... you catch the drift.. So I am weighing myself down with what I percieve are other peoples expectations of me, which most probably have nothing in common with their actual expectations...

I presume some of these ponderings are being brought on by my imminent move to a different continent, feelings of guilt over going even further from responsibilities back home, sadness at leaving a place that has been such a good home for the past two years as well as well as apprehension pertaining to what stresses await us in Japan. So I’m being an introspective silly git ;-) The bairns are happy, Elena woke up this morning singing a sixties tune, we’re all looking forward to our ventures in the next two years, nervousness is to be expected but on the whole, excitement and positiveness far outweighs any apprehensions!

I could be doing a hellofalot worse, I'm sure .... Do you guys get these guilt trips over percieved expectations, as well?

Reality Tv and the loss of Paris

O.k. I can officially stop watching American Idol now. Paris has been voted off, the only one that had an astounding talent, presence and talent, did I mention talent?!! In a way it’s a good thing, this weird addiction to the show is unnatural yet it is so very very entrancing. I’m generally not much for reality shows, generally they invoke a guttural feeling of complete and utter disgust, yet a few have caught my eye and at the same time my attention.
One has been American Idol, flashy, grand, contrived yet watchable, the x-factor, the British idol equivalent, yet open to groups and older people as well. A definite improvement on the A.I. specifically for the inclusion of Sharon Osborne (Jon Kjartan’s going to kill me for this) who is simply an amazing woman ;-) Third would have to be Americas next top model, hey how can you beat watching amazingly beautiful young women being at their most bitchingly selfish ;-P and last but not least, Beauty and the Geek. The title itself is a folkloric memorate and I am a selfproclaimed geek, a major factor the television producers ignored, geeks also come in the pint sized big bosomed variant!

Back to American Idols latest series, ms Pickler was thankfully voted off last week, the “I’m a simple intellectually challenged redneck innocent with no former experience and cast into the limelight against my own wishes”, who incidentally wore the dress on the right to her prom, competed in miss North Carolina as well as the television song contest pass me the mike.....all the dirt can be read here
But Paris?? I loved her from day one, her talent, her exuberance and all through the visiting talent have unerringly spoken most highly of her, so why vote her off? Browsing through comments on the various blogpages it would seem that many feel her future is already made, that unlike the other contestants she has her families experience and connections to draw upon and has already made enough of an impression to make it onwards... Well I hope so

Oh speaking of Paris Bennet, watched Pride and Prejudice last night, the Keira Knightly version. Oh wow, I'd forgotten how good that story was. Alhough it has to be admitted that he had absolutely nothing on Colin Firth Keira rocked, the supporting cast were excellent and the tale+directing+filming was suitably sweeping ;-) Loved the extras though, the fact that for the American audience they filmed another ending, an ending that actually showed the happy ever after.... No sticking to the litearature if the audience need more ;-P

Elena 7 years old, already!

My wee one’s 7 years old today….. Making it harder and harder for me to claim mere 25 years ;-) Who’d have thought I’d produce a blond, uber pink butterfly of a socialite of a girl?? :-D Blessed indeed I've been!
. . .

Happy May 1st

Happy May day everyone, sorry about the major lack of postage of late. This is starting to be a blurb rather than a blog, i.e. once in a while I blurb incoherently for a while before retreating to Japanese studies, article reading and packing panic again.

The meeting at school went well, as they always do. I always panic yet so far I always come out afterwards with a wide smile on my face and renewed fervour for my studies. Think I've been really lucky with my head supervisor, methodical, precise, appropriately demanding yet extremely affable,positive and extremely encouraging :-D A far cry from the near total lack of supervision I got last year, an education in itself however not an experience I was longing to repeat...

Ooo pretty reflection ;-)

Ooo pretty reflection ;-)
Originally uploaded by Gunnella.

Fell in love with a collection of decoratice metallic balls in Sheffield centre, see ! I managed that whole sentence without any lewd inuendo !! ;-) Amazing!

DISASTER IN BARNSLEY - slightly inappropriate humour ;-)

An Appeal For Your Help

A major earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, hit in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Epicentre: Barnsley, England.

News of the disaster was swiftly carried abroad by the towns 35000 racing pigeons, as victims were seen wandering around aimlessly muttering "fookinhell" and "choofinnorah".

The earthquake decimated the town causing £30 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of mementos from the Balearic Isles and the Spanish Costa's were damaged beyond repair. Three areas of historical burnt out cars were disturbed.

Many locals were woken well before their Giro arrived. Radio Barnsley reported that hundreds of residents were confused and bewildered, still trying to come to terms with the fact that something interesting had happened in Barnsley. One resident, 15 year old mother of three, Tracey Sharon Braithwaite, said, "It was such a shock my little Chardonnay Madonna came running into my bedroom crying. The twins, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it all. I was still shaking when I was watching Kilroy the next morning". Locals were determined not to be bowed as looting, muggings and car crime carried on as normal.

So far whilst the British Red Cross has managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny Delight to the areas to relieve the suffering of stricken locals,rescue workers searching through the rubble have found large quantities of personal belongings including benefit books, jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos and bone china from poundstretcher.

Can you help?
Please respond generously to our appeal for food and clothing for the victims of this disaster.

Clothing is needed most of all - especially

* Burberry or Fila baseball caps
* Kappa tracksuit tops (his or hers)
* Shell suits (female)
* White sports socks
* Rockfort boots or any other product sold at Primark

Culturally sensitive food parcels are harder to put together, but your efforts will make a difference. Microwave meals, tinned beans, ice cream and cans of Colt 45 or Special Brew are ideal. Please do not give anything that needs peeling.

Remember
* 22p buys a biro for filling in compensation claims
* £2 buys chips, crisps and a blue fizzy drink for a family of 9
* £5 will pay for a packet of B & H and a lighter to calm a child’s nerves.

Urgently required: Tinned whippet food. Bones for Jack Russells.

Please do not send tents for shelter. The sight of such posh housing will cause discontent in the surrounding South Yorkshire communities.

My wee future geekette ;-)

Saw her playing with her notebook in the playground and wondered what she was up to... She'd gone and made herself a laptop computer, along with multiple open windows ;-) So major kudos for inventiveness as well as a tinge of pride as she is copying me, the poor child ;-)