3ff3ct3rYesterday was my last day of work.

Handed out the math term papers as my parting gift. Some had done well, some not so well.

One of the girls got her paper, then promptly sat down in the corner and started crying because of her spectacularly awful result. SHe gathered three-four friends around her. I didn't give a shit, it was my last class and I was addressing questions fielded by some of the more interested kids. After half an hour, one of her friends came up to me:
( Read more... )
The educational system has failed. One of the primary goals is to make the students responsible for their own learning. Yet when they fail to learn their immediate recourse is to push the blame onto someone/ something else.

3ff3ct3rFuck you Metallica. You are a bouquet of dicks. First you build underground cred by encouraging tape circulation. Then fifteen years later you bring down Napster. Now ten years after that you're back to the cool new distribution model of free circulation. I actually hate you as individuals.

Why Metallica went after Napster:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/20379823/lars_ulrich_weve_always_been_fiercely_independent_and_controlling/2
QA with Lars Ulric re. Napster case:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/00/05/26/1251220.shtml?tid=141

Now:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9440/Metallica+Now+Embraces+File-Sharing%3F
And:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTLBDMT9PmY

mirazandarI was mistaken for a prostitute yesterday. Rather ironic, seeing as I have been reading a lot about prostitution for half a year now. It actually happened twice during less than half an hour. I was my old jeanswearing self, and walking around in vika looking for a cafe. I was going to sit down and roughly finish the chapter that’s due to Thursday. The very moment I had found a cafe that had some room for me, - some dude started to shout vague obcenities from the other side of the street, and while he was crossring the street fled into a guitarshop where I ended up buying a cheap ukulele. It’s small and cute and I bet i’m going to have fun with it this summer. While I was hiding out in the guitar shop, the cafe filled up, and I started to look for another place to study.

Me and Martine have been joking that in our next life we want to become one of those old fat cuban men who smoke thick sigars, who are impeccably dressed in pretty suits and a nice hat, and who always sleep with girls that are fourty years their juniors. Well. As I walked around the corner, I met one of those. He asked me, in a surprisingly polite way how my day had been, kissed me on the cheek, told me I was beautyful and, discreetly patting the pocket that contained his wallet asked me if I wanted to join him in his hotel room.

I politely informed him that I needed to go and study for my exams. And he smiled, told me to have a nice day, and continued walking down the street.

How are you supposed to react to proposals of prostitution? I guess one should have a readymade answer, but I was rather perplexed...

martinemonsterI will say no more except point you to the very accurate description of this horrid, horrid chocolate in 3ff3ct3r´s lj.

Review of Daim Forest Fruits

I am actually speechless with the badness of it.

*shudder*

3ff3ct3rWARNING! DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO EAT THE NEW DAIM FOREST FRUITS CARAMEL BAR.

The Daim Forest Fruits Candy Bar has a grotesque red and purple coloration. This is a warning, like the poisonous frogs of the rainforest. The "candy" will leave a foul soapy taste in your mouth, and make you regret your purchasing decision. It is the worst tasting candy I have ever encountered. It is one of the worst things that has ever happened. I actually had to spit it out. Why would they make this? The whole point of candy is that it's supposed to taste good, not horrible. This... this is some kind of anti-candy. An alternate universe Daim-bar evil twin.

martinemonsterAs most of you know, I grew up in a lovely little town right outside Oslo, where the grass was greener, the birds sang more cheerfully and whatever else one says of the countryside to try and convince oneself that kids grow up to be happier and more well-adjusted if you keep them out of big cities. And though we lie about a lot of the good stuff about growing up outside of Oslo to make ourselves feel better about it, one thing is for certain: it makes me grateful to live in the city center now.

In Holmestrand everyone knew everyone, and that meant that there was very little wriggle room for any anti-social behavior. Everyone not only knew who the drunken bastard who hung out at the docks, but why he started drinking and what happened to his wife and kids. But in Oslo, there is room for the crazies to just be crazies. The drunken old weirdo who lives across the street who I'm quite sure likes to stare at me either because he's seen me running through the apartment naked or because he wants to kill me, is just that. I don't know his family or go to school with his sister. It's the same with the crazy guy who dresses in something in between a dress and a sheet who rides his bike to our local shop to buy his food every day. Sure, I have to interact with them, and they're definitely weird, but at the same time it leaves a lot of room to be slightly weird without anyone noticing or caring about it. Nobody's gonna mention to my mom when they meet at the grocery shop that I went shopping in a bathrobe, for instance.

I started thinking of this when I was on my way home this morning. I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when a middle aged, clearly high/drunk guy presses himself up against the wall to make room for me to get by him (mind you, this was a regular sized pavement with room for at least 3 people to pass each other comfortably with nobody having to brush up against any strangers). "Ladies first," he smiled and gave me a bow. I did the only thing I could think of; smiled back and said thank you. "Well, it's soon to be the 17th of May," he said in way of explanation as I kept walking home. And hey, it made my day feel a little better. I like the crazies.

45hasleNow, I've never claimed to be a great chef. More accurately, I've never made a believable claim to being a great chef. That being said, I've not yet made the neat little "cheese is basically eggs, only it comes from hens, so use that instead" mistake, and when I decide to make something, it is often recognizable for what it is supposed to be. One exception is of course omelettes, which have a tendency to come across as scrambled eggs, but what the hells. The reason I feel the need for this little introduction is the batch of shortbread I made yesterday. I've always been a great fan of shortbread, but the problem is really that I was aiming for apple pie... As it turns out, quiche-dough is not just fruit-pie dough withouth sugar, and adding sugar to the leftover dough from a couple of days ago will not make it so. That being said, fried apple encased in shortbread rather tasty, but there was rather too much dough and not all that much apple, which is another lesson I'll take with me from this little culinary adventure. Also, I've apparently found out how to make shortbread, a pleasure that was previously restricted to when my father returned from trips to the UK. 

mirazandarToday started with two questions fighting their way through my head. One was "It it possible to grow your own grapefruit tree?" The other was "why don't people make grapefruit marmelade. Oranges have far too little 'bite' in them". The two questions could be answered with one experiment. I bought a grapefruit, made marmelade from it. Found a grapefruit stone. And as an added bonus, - made a grapefruit cake from the pulp remaining after the making of the marmelade.

1. Grapefruit marmelade
I followed VeganYumYums's marmelade recipe, and while I don't think orange marmelade is suitable for anything, except perhaps flavouring sauces, which is what I use it for, - I was having big hopes for the grapefruit. The conclusion is that grapefruit marmelade is awsome! It has a pretty honeylike colour. It tastes a bit more bitter than orange marmelade, and if eaten warm, it marmeladize, jellify, whatever you call it - inside your toast. Does it get much better?

If my camera had been functional, you would have seen a photo of the deliciousnes

2. Grapefruit tree
I found one seed. I've put it under a glass bown on a piece of wet cotton. I hope it'll sprout. I already have a calamondine tree in a pot on the windowcill, and am in the process of making liqueur of the fruits. According to online sources, it takes seven years before it starts blossoming, and I'm likely to kill it before then, but ir'll be fun.

3. Grapefruit cake
Epic failure. If you use too many appliances and create a distracting powerout: Don't assume you've added enough sugar. You most probably haven't. Cake should taste sweet. Although the pulpy leftovers from cooking marmelade will make the cake more juicy, - remove the big chunks of white stuff. They won't taste too nice in cake. It's not a good cake if you have to dip it in sugar and pick it apart to remove thick, white grapefruit rinds. Bad cake. I wonder what to do with it.

martinemonsterI was too tired to write this morning, not having slept too good last night, so after an hour of staring at the screen, I decided to try and catch some shuteye. Cut to me having a series of nightmares including cross dressing, Bø i Telemark, clothes shopping with aj_stalin, running away from bad guys with 45hasle (who sacrificed himself so that I could get away with the secret plans for the building and save the day, but I couldn't seem to find my way out of the building even when he was distracting most of the guards with his fighting skillz), and the classic trying to get the larp finished and failing nightmare.

I woke up well rested and ready to keep working, or at least well rested, and was just going to check my email before continuing my chapter. And there it was:

An invitation to a Tupperware party. Me. Invited to a Tupperware party.

I didn't even know they still had those. Let alone that anyone would want to invite me to one. I'm not exactly the Tupperware type of person. Then again, it's for a friend who's just starting out her new, weird and kinda scary, career as a Tupperware saleswoman so I don't fucking know. We're not obligated to buy anything. Does anyone want to have a Tupperware party with me?

mirazandarAround twelwe today, I realised that I wouldn't be able to finish my exam, as the probably-phneumonia had prevented me from working enough during the first four days of it. And as I actually had been ill, and as i actually had the sick leave in the pocket i wound up using it. I think it was a wise thing to do, and I think it's all solving itself for the best. My advisorperson is letting me retake the exam before taking my summer holidays, which means that the only big consequence will be me starting my summer holidays later than planned. I'm rather relieved by that. I was expecting this to have the rather unfortunate consequence of me having to have a round of exams in august, which would be pretty stressful.

As i'm feeling alot better than I did, I got a good deal of work done on my other school stuff, which felt good, and around nine I went home feeling rather accomplished.

After coming home, I've had a really nice time. I've repotted my plants, and they look alot happier than they did before. I found a big flowerpot on my way home from school, and thought it would be fitting for my chilli plant. Unfortunately, I planted it about two inches too deep. Changing soil and cutting it back must be pretty stressful for it, so I guess I need to wait a few weeks before adding more soil to the bottom of the pot. It looks like a sick kid in a too big pyjamas.

I'm pretty fond of the little birds eye chilli. It has provided me with nice smelling nice tasting oddly pungent mini chillies for a year, but lately, it has looked a little under the weather. Lene pointed me in the direction of the hagegal forums, and the people there were really helpful, and has given me tons of advice on how to prevent it from dying. Hope it works.

On another note, the bread I baked today raised to about twice the usual size. I think this "baking all the bread I eat"-project of mine is giving me some sort of baking-superpowers. Unfortunately this also means that it takes more time to bake, so I'm circling the oven and knock the bread every 5 minutes hoping that it'll be done soon.