Summer

Been walking around Wellington these last few days, and man, it is summer already! Saw the beautiful sunset that coloured the sky pink and purple, a huuuge moon, the roses that are in full bloom and smelling just fantastic, cabbage trees in full bloom smelling great, the smell of weed coming from the bushes in the botanic gardens (lol), packs of tourists taking pictures on the platform by the top of the cable car... a gentle breeze.. I'm broke again.. all sure signs that summer is here at last. :)

I <3 Wellington.

I started my job for the Department of Labour this week, and it's pretty allright. Seems I can work as much or little as I want to, as long as I get the work done - which is great. I need to work now though, just so I can pay the rent and the bills that are towering up.. --" I must say that it's nice to be working with something that is project based rather than just answering phone calls or cleaning up after ppl. And the pay is great too! :D But I don't have much free time these days, seeing as I'm working till 5 every day (for the time being). Feels good to have something to do again though. Will be working till sometime in december, probably right up until two days before I leave! Looking forward to the weekend. It'll be great to be able to laze around a bit, I'll need it!

FREEEEEDOM!

I've finished my Honours Thesis!!!!
Have had such a nice day, with no worries, just hanging out with my classmates and then with my flatmates, drinking and relaxxing. Whaaaa..... I have an exam on Friday but I am not stressed about it at all. Right now I am sooooooooo happy.. blissful and really at peace. :)

*love*

Music and studies

I've discovered that schoolwork goes really fast and effective when I listen to drum and bass. Getting more heavily into it day by day, it's just so ... cool! :D Becoming worse of a music geek every day now, at least I stopped listening to dance music for a while! Like, really low qual dancehits that haunt the clubs in town.. now it's all about drum n bass. ^^ If you wanna check out a track that is hunting my brain nowadays, follow this link that will take u to the song on youtube: Pendulum - Still Grey. It's really good. :)

School is super hectic atmo, I'm running all over town doing data collection, at the same time as my thesis supervisor is demanding some written work this week (Which means I have to complete it TODAY since I am going to Auckland tomorrow and then skiing on the weekend, yayy!). I'm gonna be sooooo happy when I finish!

Tiki Taane

I just love this song! I'm becoming a technohead, I think...

Moving on

Now that I am done with the fitness competition, I feel a bit less pressured. I'm still gonna push myself to continue the good lifestyle that I've started, but now at least I don't have to stress if my weightloss goes at a slower pace. Miss my fitness blog though...

School is going ok at the moment, I'm beginning to get some motivation again. Maybe I just don't like holidays much, because I have to little free time, that when I don't have classes I just feel very very alone. It's weird, but definitely the contact with my classmates are highlights of my week, people who know what we're dealing with, and who offer some mental aid in terms of encouragement, and sharing fears about bad marks and evil professors ;). And when it's holiday time, I don't see them, and I am still too busy with all kinds of studies... it just gets me down. Now I am starting my data collection period! Scary.. and I am still behind on the other work that I am supposed to have done during the holiday.. but I've decided to look ahead, and just be happy for the things that I manage to get done every day, instead of beating myself up over things that I should have done, or could have done. I was so stoked that I got an A- for the essay that I regurgitated in a depressed and unmotivated state during the holiday, that means that the C+ I got was the only huge dip that I will have, if I only toughen up and face what is coming with a positive attitude! Easier said than done.. but for goodness sake! I am quite elevated at the moment. I look better than I've done in aaages, I am fitter than I've been for years and years, and I have found new interest in my dissertation. Let's hope this high lasts for 6-7 weeks!!!

Deeeeemotivation

I am facing the hard facts... being demotivated can be pretty serious. I got a C+ for one of my assignments! I don't know what is wrong with me!!! I just have no joy in studying anymore, I get really down and grumpy whenever I sit down to do anything related to uni, and I put things off till the last minute and don't even care if it's not good work, as long as it is done. Man... this is pretty bad. I wrote an email to see if I could go see a counsellor about this, but they are booked out till end of September, and by then I will have screwed up my studies anyway, so I might as well just try and find a way of dealing with this on my own. I kinda just have to.

My thesis supervisor is just making things worse.. he is badgering me for not starting my work (fair enough I guess) but he is not giving me answers to my questions! And all the while he is just saying you have to decide this and that and I am just not at all interested... even though my topic is interesting! :'( How am I ever gonna get to masters with this hanging over my head?

HEEELP! Please.. nice, sweet universe, send me some motivation!

Essays... I thought this was a holiday??? oh, who am I kidding..

I've been trying to crunch out my essay that was due today, so far I have 1920 words, and before I go to bed I need another 80. I have decided. I have to hand it in tomorrow, otherwise I'll get 10% off, and that is maybe a bit too much... dunno what is wrong with me, I've been so unmotivated lately. Just don't wanna study at all, thinking of getting a job, getting on with life... I dunno. I am still super motivated to go to the gym every day though! Becoming so attached to my fitness diary and blog, and my trainer.. my my, what will I do when I don't have a trainer anymore?! It just makes life so much easier... To have someone who motivates me and who pushes me to achieve more. He's a good kid. It's only about one and a half week left of the competition now.. I'm getting up at 5 tomorrow to go to the gym!! yes.. I know it is extreme, but I really need to finish my essay!!! So I am writing hard out from 8 till 1pm, and then whatever happens happens, really. If I'm not finished, I kinda just have to hand it in anyway...

Oh, and the play is finished now!! We had 4 performances last week, which was pretty hard out as I was sick, writing assignments and going to the gym at the same time as having classes in the morning and performances in the evening. I don't even know how I survived that....

Bad Dream

I have this dream several times a year, and it is super annoying, and I don't know why it keeps reoccurring in my sleep! I am at an airport (usually a different one every time) and I am in transit between two destinations. For some reason I get lost at the terminals, and can't find the gate for my flight anymore. Then I need to get help from someone, and by the time I find my gate the flight has gone by no more than 5 minutes... but it's still gone, and I have to get a new flight. Why do I keep dreaming this??! It has never happened! This time I was in transit in Singapore, but the terminal numbers were weird, and different floors of the airport had different terminal numbers... and I was flying Qantas. Hmmmmm....

Haircut

For a few hours, from I finished at the hairdresser's till I went to the gym, I was looking fabulous. *sigh* At least I took a picture so I'll remember.

Grøtfest (porridge party.. heh)

Today I filled my little lounge with Norwegians, and made them Norwegian porridge, called "Risengrynsgrøt" in the native tongue. It was great! Didn't meet that many new Norwegians (i did meet one though, and Rebekka showed up after being away for months!). I guess we didn't advertise very well, but it turned out to be a very nice evening anyway with the nine of us. My flatmates even came out to taste the porridge and listen to weird norwegian words.. lol.
Really tired now... gonna have to finish tomorrow. Zzzzzz

Feeling good

Man, I haven't felt this good in... forever, I think! At first it was a bit of a hassle going to the gym, but I knew in the back of my head that I would feel better if I just stuck to it, and now I have so much energy! I want to go to the gym every day, I even sometimes want to go back to the gym after I have eaten dinner! Crazy huh..

Gonna bake a cake for Christine now, that I won't be able to taste. I guess I've become a bit of a sadist... I like to test myself, see if I am able to resist temptation. Man.... Decorating the cake with M&Ms, not being able to munch... But if I manage not to, I know how proud of myself I will be, and probably that is the reward that I'm after.

I guess I've become a bit boring lately with the whole diet and exercise thing going on. I have to apologise for that. I'll never return to the old chocolate-binging me, but I guess when all this is just everyday life, I won't go on and on and on about it anymore. It'll be just normal daily life. Losing weight while gaining muscle is a bit of a challenge though.. I'm working my ass off (literally).. ;)

The ankle injury

I finally got the verdict, but I have NOO idea what it means.... According to the MRI report, "there is a minimal area of bone marrow oedema on the lateral aspect of the dome of the talus with no overlying chondral injury. There is tenosynovitis of FHL and also some longitudinal splitting of the peroneus brevis." ?? I've been trying to find my friend Odny online for 2 days to ask about it, but I suppose I'll just have to settle for the doctor that I'm seeing today.. hopefully he is good at explaining these things.. and hopefully it doesn't mean that I need an operation!!!! *fingers crossed* I can settle for walking with a dorky shoe for some while, or doing exercises... but I really really don't want to have to give up my exercise routine!

I GOT TO MEET THE MINISTER TODAY

Ok, I know that for normal people that is not such a big thing, but you all know how much of a geek I am when it comes to my subject, and meeting the minister of Tourism was really something... boy does he know alot about his subject! I suppose you kinda have to to be a minister..

21 days?

This is it, the so called amount of days it takes for the body to get used to a new routine. I've been trying to see if I feel a difference, but actually I don't. Maybe it's because I've been to the gym every day, so I haven't had a chance to just relax and revive. The fitness programme is taking up quite a lot of time though, yesterday I got so caught up in my veggie shopping that I forgot play rehearsals... (uh oh, they're gonna give me so much shit.. and I deserve it..)

Went to the gym yesterday for an hour, just to procrastinate. I have schoolwork to do, but I'm not really that motivated to do any of it. I'm still craving lollies whenever I sit down to do schoolwork. Which is making me bite my nails down even further than before. Not good. -.-

I don't understand why I am so grumpy! grr.

My new room

My new room is what I'd call freakishly small. I have about 2 sqare metres of floor space, that I have to use for my heater, my gym bag, my shoes, my laundry basket, my paper bin, my computer chair... when all comes to all, I don't have much floor space.
What is cool though, is that I finally managed to put up my wall carpet! Wehe! Today is extremely cold, so I've left the curtains drawn. It's windy as.
And here is my new view: I can see a bit of the Terrace, and I can see a bit of Dixon street. Pretty handy location. :)
The good thing about having a small room is that it is easy to heat up. Even with the heater at an extremely low setting I am happy and snug. The bad thing is that I don't have space to move.. And no space for my beloved gym ball. I wonder how I didn't see that this room would be that small...

What to do about the thesis

I think I've got it under control now... I guess what I would have needed from my supervisor was a bit more direction and a kick in the ass, but seeing as no one here at school is an expert at my field, things aren't that straight forward. gotta have it sussed by tomorrow at 4:30!

It seems that I am much better at managing my diet and my workout than I am at managing my studies at the moment, as can be seen from the eager posting on my fitness blog. The dieting is still pretty hard, but I am managing better than I though I would... Haven't had a lolly for 16 days! I'm thinking of all the things that I can eat when I finish the programme, but then I get to thinking that if I eat all the things that I want to eat, I'm just gonna put on all the weight again... better just keep at it. It's pretty easy when having a personal trainer though... just makes things so much more easy, and keep the motivation up. I guess the real challenge starts the day that I am on my own....

Sunday Market

This is one of my new hobbies: securing fresh produce for the rest of the week at the farmer's market in town. As my diet now consist of 2/3 fruit and vegetable, this is the best way to get the freshest produce and SAVE MONEY. It's unbelievable what the supermarkets are charging for vegetables... I just checked the price for green beans yesterday: $15 a kilo! Here at the market it is about $6, but prices vary from stall to stall. And you can get a punnet of cherry tomatoes for $2,50, compared to $6 at New World. Crazy, huh?

Oh yea, and I lost 3kgs already on the fitness programme, and still have 6 weeks to go. :) Life is good.

blogging

This is what blogging should be like. I'm borrowing my new flatmate's cat, Say. She is super friendly, and seeing as I miss having a cat on my lap, I don't mind her occupying my lap from time to time. :)

It's been a weird weekend, I've been quite moody, and therefore it was good to go out with Jo tonite and just watch a nice movie. We went to see the new Narnia film. It was good, although it was a bit heavy on the candy floss, but the special effects were nice (minus the water guy, that just looked very weird and reminded me of LOTR bigtime).

Now it's bedtime, and then to the market tomorrow! yussss.

It's been a busy week so far... I've been training, moving flats, got sick and am now getting better, attending lectures... And last night we had the flat cooling for the place that I lived in over the hols. Was possibly the first party I've ever attended for a "whole night" without consuming a single drop of alcohol.. was a bit weird. But it felt real good to wake up this morning and not be hung over! Would have been doubly great if it wasn't pooring down outside! Oh well...
Today and tomorrow I am hoping to get as much studying done as possible. My throat is getting super sore, and I hope that it'll heal fast so that I'm ready for monday's workout again! Just typical to get sick now that I'm so busy..
The new flat is ok, the people are nice, but my room is freakishly small!! like, I only just managed to squeeze my furniture in here... a bit claustrophobic.. I don't have room to get a proper desk, which is something that I really need as a student.. Jo! I really hope we'll set up a flat in Nov! :) Would be great.

End of flathunting

I've got a flat. It's on the Terrace! I'm pretty stoked with the location. A bit of drama tonight though, when the "dream flat" said that they wanted me to come live with them, and I only accepted the other flat yesterday night.. But after mulling it over for a while I've managed to come to terms with it. There are several advantages of moving to the house on the Terrace instead of the flat on Dixon street, and so, to make myself feel good about it, here they are (Key words in capitol letters):

1. The PEOPLE in the Terrace flat seem really nice as well, and there is a CAT.

2. There are 3 computer specialists in the flat, so if I ever need help with my comp I can just go to the flatmates! :D

3. The Terrace is perfectly situated between town and uni. This means, I can WALK EVERYWHERE! The location also means that I can easily get to the gym. And use my free bus pass when I am lazy.

4. The room at the Terrace flat has a WINDOW (the other room didn't) with a very nice VIEW.

Not to talk about how much grief it would cause to let the other flat down now. I don't want to cause trouble. And I believe that I will be happy on the Terrace. I think that you face challenges like this every once in a while so that you are able to develop as a person. I had to find out what was most important to me.. a dishwasher, or my principles? I found that my principles were more important. I don't go back on my word.

Now I have to find a moving company, and get all my stuff prepared to be moved yet another time. It'll be the first time I'm using a moving company.. it's exciting. :D Like hiring a cleaner, or ... any other act of hiring a person to do work that one could do oneself, but is too lazy to do. And my friends will get a break!

;)

Had enough

I am so sick of flathunting now. I've just about had what I can take of it, and still I haven't found a place. I hate having to sell myself, and I hate going to tonnes of places that are just shit. At this stage I just want to go back to stafford and give a shit about flathunting until november. Seriously.

Pretty pretty shoes...

I just want to immortalise them!

I need to start studying for real... I have so much to do this trimester! I need to do my readings, start the literature review for my dissertation, practise my lines for the play... Find a FLAT... *Grumble*

Midland Sushi

With a line this long, you know the sushi is good. ^_^

the gym project

I decided to write a blog about getting fitter. So, if you're at all interested, check it out. ;)

Fitness Blog

A Grey Hair

I have been anticipating this moment for a long while, in fact many of my friends already found theirs around 23. I found (or rather, my friend Christine found) my very first grey hair (to my knowledge it was the first). It was so grey that it was white. Just a couple of days earlier I decided that I'll go with it when my hair goes grey, just dye it white or something.. I just finished a book where there was a woman whose hair went white over nigth because of something she saw. Odd... Well, there it is. At 27 and a half.

Homesick, for the ..37th time?

Soundtrack: Thomas Dybdahl - A Lovestory

I am such a whiny baby. I am homesick. Again. I sometimes get so surprised about how well my mum knows me.. I was feeling kinda blue, and wanted to call home to hear about summer, sun and wonderful things, and my mum instantly just knew that I was feeling a bit down. And yes, I do call even if I am happy, so it wasn't just that I called. I finally managed to see the sex and the city movie the other day, and I guess the ending was happy enough and it was a nice finale to the show. It just occurred to me after the movie though, all their lives are soooo wonderful and fantastic with fashion, skinny bodies and shoes, but none of them seem to have any family at all??? Only once on the show was there anything about the family of Miranda, other than that the rest of them seem to have no mothers, no fathers, no siblings or cousins or whatever. It's so weird... I miss my family. And I hate the fact that now that I finally live with people that I care about again (the last perfect flat I guess was with Jo and Manu), I have to move again, and risk moving into a place where I don't get along with the people. If I even manage to find a flat that I like in the two weeks that I have left before I have to leave. I think possibly that Sean and Alex find me a bit of a drag though, being all needy and whiny and particular. And that I always assume that people find me to be a drag. I guess that can be tiresome as well.

I start school again next monday. And I start my new training routine. And my "new" day rythm. thank goodness that I start early on this Monday, so that I can't opt out and sleep in. I wonder what it will be like, working out every day. Not going to the gym every day, but making sure that I am active for at least half an hour every day, walking or swimming with Christine or biking or whatever... and studying... for some reason I think that having a fitness routine will make it easier to study though. I often got tired and unmotivated last trimester and wasted heaps of time on procrastinating and so on.. maybe getting fitter will make me more able to concentrate? We shall see....

ch-ch-ch-changes

Soundtrack: A-ha - Stay on these roads

I finally did what I have been going on about for the last 15 months: I moved out. If it hadn't been for the head tenant kicking me out, then I guess I would still be rotting away in that miserable place. So, I am now living in a temporary flat with two mates, and I must say: It is a rather large change to be living with two blokes as opposed to a bunch of girls. I like it. The flat is a bit scary though, I must admit. I hear people walking in the house all the time, I even FEEL people walking as the house sometimes shakes with the steps, but at times I find myself wondering if there are anyone else in the house at all apart from myself (among the living, that is...). So yeah, a bit scary. I just keep telling myself that it is the neighbours downstairs, and so far it is a good enough explanation. Still, I am only here for another month before it's time to move again. A bit crazy to move twice I guess, but then it felt really good to get out of the old flat. And to get into this one, even though it is for a short time only, I will miss it when I go.

I was wondering today whether my bad year is caused by my morals slacking off. I am probably just being over interpretative as usual, and searching for a cause where there is none, but none the less I will have to think it through. After all, I am starting the programme soon, and then I should have a healthy mind as well as a healthy body. I am wondering how hard it will be changing my diet, and how long it will take before I stop craving chocolate. Oh dear.. I can live without many things, but chocolate is hard to give up. Possibly even harder than quitting smoking... after all, I've been eating chocolate since I was a kid. Hm.. don't wanna think about it right now. ;)

Hm.

It seems that with the branching out of Facebook into notes and posts and all, blogging has become somewhat redundant... Everyone knows what I am up to, anyway. And that isn't much, nowadays! Sitting in front of my computer and trying to crunch out words is the only thing I should be doing for the next two weeks, I cannot wait to finish the last two assignments! Then it's writing thesis proposal, working (hopefully) and then in July it all starts over. I think my first class honours is pretty much gone, the pressure is too hard and I don't think I'll be able to get good enough grades for it... *sigh* I guess that won't matter when I finish my Masters degree though. :) Let's hope so.

Woooow, what a long time it has been since the last time I blogged....

I guess time just flew past, without waiting for me to catch up. But now I realise that I miss pouring my heart onto the screen, instantly feeling better about whatever it is that gets me down, or just sharing good times with people. It is time to start over.

The Present:
I am a postgrad, I am now studying Masters of Tourism Management, year 1 (which is honours). We had the first meeting today, just to see the other people who will suffer alongside us.

Truth is, every year here has brought me new friends, new adventures, and I can't wait to start this year's events. To be perfecty honest, I almost think that I returned too soon. People have been too busy to hang out with me, which I quite understand. But I've been lonely. And idle. I suppose those two go hand in hand. What I should have done, is to stay at home and enjoy the company of my parents and friends in Norway for a couple of weeks longer. I remember that I really didn't want to go home in December, and I was bored when I was at home, but just as I got used to being at home again it was time to leave.. And leaving Europe is never fun, although I absolutely love it here. I guess my heart is divided. Going home brings that to my attention anew.

Two more days now before start of term. I suppose I'll just hang around the house, I don't really have anything to do before I start, so might as well just sink as deeply into boredom as possible before the stress starts.

It's good to be back. :)