My digressions were first lured into the tricksy world of blogging in August 2009 by a mixture of peer pressure and a promise of cookies. At the time I was staying in Washington, D.C. where I was combining work with pleasure. Consequently, if you visit my blog archive for the period August-October 2009, it will mostly contain posts about an outsider’s view on the US, cultural differences, homesickness, travelling, sightseeing and how it feels to be spending your youth in the US State Department’s archives when you know you should have been sipping drinks three blocks away from the White House.
In November 2009, however, I returned to my native Norway. Thus the blog archive from November and December 2009 mainly consists of descriptions of re-adapting to old habits, complaints about work and studies, and the occasional “it’s nearly Christmas” enthusiastic blurbs.
The transition to 2010 was tough for this poor blog, and my focus turned to a near-fatalistic fanaticism for completing the research for my thesis. I’m no zealot (other than in my digressionary practice), so my attempts to finish my Master’s degree in history last spring failed, but the overhanging Damocles’ sword of a thesis continued to threaten me and my ability to post regularly. Fortunately I finally finished (and there was much rejoicing), and naturally expected to have more time. Alas, instead I jumped straight into another adventure. This time the distraction I call "life" brought me to Tokyo, Japan, where I intended to report on culture clashes, food oddities, and the pros and cons of diplomatic life for six month. Obviously, this schedule got somewhat disrupted when Japan got hit by the largest earthquake and tsunami in its recorded history, and I found myself right in the middle of a catastrophe. Suddenly, I fancied myself an expert on quakes, tsunamis and nuclear reactors. I even had to leave the country temporarily, to what became a difficult time back in Norway. Fortunately, I was able to return to Japan, to a time of such crazy, wonderful, post-survival, whirlwind of a Tokyo on top of it's game. So much, in fact, that my rate of blogging dropped significantly. The few posts I did write, ranged from fury at the political chaos in Japan post-disaster, to praising a city I've clearly come to love.
I may not have wanted to leave, but at least I expected my life to return to a slower pace after Tokyo. So far, I've been mistaken. Less than a week after my return, Norway was hit by the worst act of violence the country has experienced since World War Two - a terrorist action that killed 77 people. Being close to the bomb explosion was an uncomfortable reminder of how I felt after the disaster in Japan earlier this year. At the same time, being in Oslo when the city and entire country pulled together like it has, showing the world that we can fight hate with love, has been an extraordinary turn of events I am glad I got to experience.
From here on? Who knows? Random should have my picture next to it in the dictionary, but I still pretend I have a plan behind some of my decisions with regards to this blog. I only hope my life from now of will stay away from events covered on CNN...
Apart from the above mentioned themes, the nature of this blog can be described as humoristic, but with occasional serious matters I try not to treat as lightly. I have an abundance of nerdy moments when either my education or my fascination for [insert virtually any subject] spills over the keyboard and I can do nothing but type. For that I beg for your forgiveness in advance. I also occasionally dabble (or drabble) with fiction writing.
It should also be noted that English is not my first language, so the occasional spellning-, grammary and structure sentence mistake is to be expected. As an added “bonus”, I do tend to include certain glimpses into the Norwegian language just for kicks.
My favourite colour is green, and my favourite animal is the kangaroo. (Just kidding.)
