Category: Personal

  • Time waits for no man

    In other words: Norway has entered summer time, also known as UTC+2. And while time itself had nothing to do with it, everyone else acts as if it has. I myself will wait till tomorrow and turn the clock one hour ahead during a meeting. Maybe I’ll do it twice. Once before lunch and once again after.

    I’ll correct any mistakes when I get home after work.

    Actually, I suspect I will keep on making new mistakes, but hopefully not the same ones. Because I don’t have time for that (pun intended, you may slow clap.)

    Unrelated. I think it’s time to get rid of Windows 11. Again, this is unrelated to the UTC+2 changes, but it certainly didn’t help either. I’ve been looking at openSUSE, which seems to be enjoying growth as of late. I have come so far as to download the installation, but not far enough to have put it onto a bootable USB drive. Also, I have misplaced the USB drive altogether. But I know where it is, and once I get it back it is “go time.”

    Many, many years ago. A bit more. No, not that far. Anyway, somewhere back in time, I used to have Linux as my main operating system. And as time goes, I feel more and more that I should move back. The only thing keeping me back these days are Adobe Lightroom, and possibly Steam. But I don’t play my games, so it seems like a silly excuse. Then again, you haven’t heard my other excuses, so this one may actually be one of the more reasonable ones.

    Well. Times up. I have books to read. Hooray!

  • Anxiety is the part of me that never gives up

    Anxiety is the part of me that never gives up. Sometimes it leaves me for a while, but it always comes back to give me a hug when I need it the most. Ignoring the fact that I need it from another human being.

    When I want to run and hide. Anxiety runs with me. Not to hide, but to remind me how pointless it is.

    When I want to be alone. Anxiety tells me I am not good enough. Not worthy of love. Not even from myself.

    When I want quietness. Anxiety plays the drums and shout at the top of its lungs. Always to a tune I cannot stand.

    When I want to sleep. Anxiety asks me—with a grin on its face—about the mistakes I have made in my life.

    Anxiety is a part of me, and it will never give me up for someone else. Someone better.

  • My Hybrid Vacation

    This past week I’ve had what I would call a ‘hybrid vacation.’ Working in the morning and kayaking after lunch (if the weather permitted, which it did.)

    Not only that. I’ve also picked up my dSLR camera, charged the batteries and started toying with light and shadows again. Still missing live models, but I’ll have a lot of inanimate objects around me. Like this piece of paper, telling yet another story of my activities: Practicing my handwriting.

    The alphabet written in cursive

    This is the first attempt copying some guy on the internet. I’m still making tweaks to find my own style. I also have to produce three extra letters from the Norwegian alphabet. You would think a guy like me, working with computers all day, would prefer keyboard. But no. More and more I am drawn to the pen and paper. Away from the screen.

    Talking about being away from the screen: Here are three images I took on a recent walk around sunset.

    Birds swimming in water
    Bird jumping into water
    Sunset with clouds and a bit of water in the forground

    That’s it. My attempt at making blogging personal again. Oof, that doesn’t sound too good. That orange joke from USA has ruined “make … again” expression completely.

  • My Year in Books

    And by “My Year in Books” I obviously mean 2022, the year we just left behind.

    Cover of three books: The Storyteller by Dave Grohl, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and Becoming by Michelle Obama
    Three of the books I read in 2022.

    In 2022 I started the year with a goal to read 36 books; I ended up reading 31. There are several reasons why I didn’t reach my goal, but the main one is that I simply didn’t read enough.

    This year my goal will be (at least) 40 books. I selected that goal because a) based on last year’s reading habit, it is ambitious but still realistic, and b) I may or may not turn 40 this year.

    To be able to reach this goal I have realized that I must read more fiction in between the “heavy stuff” of self-help, biographies, technical books and what not. Some books are just easier to digest than others. Barack Obamas brick, A Promised Land, is not one of them, and that’s why I still haven’t finished it. Sorry Barack, but I preferred your wife’s writing.

    Back to fiction, the best book I read last year: Project Hail Mary. I cannot stress how good this book was. It is a book I want to read again, and again. It is just so darn good.

    I can also recommend “The Storyteller” by Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighter himself. I’m currently reading (among other books) “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen. So far Dave Grohl has been more captivating in his storytelling, but I’ve just started “running”, maybe it will change once I get a bit further into the book.

    To see the whole list of books I read, you can roam around in my Goodreads profile.

  • Reading goals for 2022

    2021 started of well. Very well indeed. Life was good and I was happy. That did not last. None of this had anything to do with Covid-19 or any other illnesses, except for anxiety, I guess. Anyways, now that I have completed the seasonal greetings of the new year, I want to write a bit about my reading.

    Some of the books I read in 2021

    In 2020 I hade a goal of reading 12 books in a year. Since it was my first year setting such a goal, I figured one book per month was as good as any. By the end of the year, I reached 15.

    In 2021 I decided to double that goal, 24 books in 12 months. A hairy target, giving my taste in books (mostly memoirs, biographies, and other non-fiction literature), but goals should be aspirational, but also within reach. At the end I managed 30 books. I really managed to push through at the end of the year. Also, I tend to read more than one book at a time. More about that in a bit.

    Now this year — the year 2022 in case you missed it — the goal is to read 36 books. Combined with slightly faster reading speed, and a solid reading habit each day, I think that should be doable. There, I have said it: 36 books by the end of the year.

    The goal to read 36 books is not just about reading as many books as possible. That would be a waste of time. The goal is to absorb the books. To enjoy them and to learn. Most of the books I read, as said earlier, is memoirs, biographies, and other non-fiction work. This generally takes more time to digest then pure fiction.

    My reading strategy now is to read more than one book at a time. Typically, this means one biography/memoir, one other non-fiction book and one pure fictional book to seek refugee in when my brain needs a time off from all the facts and figures in the other books. Also, to my benefit, I can read both Norwegian and English books, which gives me yet another dimension in my reading. I do not have any issues reading a biography in English and another in Norwegian at the same time.

    Usually, I read a mix of physical books and digital on my Kindle. I love books on paper, but the Kindle is so much more versatile when traveling (not happening much in Covid times) or in bed. I rather swipe on my Kindle than on my phone — the Kindle is so much better for the eyes.

    If you really would like to know what I am reading, I have a Goodreads profile — here is the books I read in 2021 — otherwise I would probably not log my readings at all.