The middle east conflict

I know I haven' written anything here for ages, so I thought I'd write a comment on the situation in the middle east.

First of, I don't think too many people know the history behind the conflict, so I'll try to explain. Here's a brief explanation of the recent history:

The Israeli were on the run from an antisemitic europe, especially the nazi holocaust. They were encouraged to seek refuge in historic Palestine, at the time a british colony. The UN offered the Israeli people the better part of historic Palestine to build a new state called Israel. For the indegionus Palestinians, the uprooting of their country to make room for a new people were a destruction of life. They rejected the UN's partition plan and several Arab states invaded the new state of Israel. Israel effectively demolished over 400 Palestine villages. In 1949 they were at the end of their fight and new armistice lines were drawn up, and Israel now owned 78% of what was once historic Palestine. Only the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remained. Of the Palestinians who were expelled form their settlements during the fighting, many sought refuge in new Jewish villages, but were denied access and had to build tent camps and similar refuge camps on their own. They because second class citisens of the new state alongside the new Jewish majority.

Today, these refugees and their relatives live mostly in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon. Many of them are still living in refugee camps, seeking to return to their home land.

To sum up, one group of refugees found a much needed home, but it the process, a new group of refugees was created.

Now, here's another thing to understand: Israel was created as a jewish state, but ask yourself what that means. People have had a lot of ideas about what a Jewish state should look like. Some called for equality for all citisens, but what was created in practice, was institutional discrimination against non-Jews. In other words, Israel ended up being built on a blue print of exclution. The Israelian government wants the maximum of land and resources for Jews, but not for the Palestinians living there. That's why, inside Israel, Jews get special priveleges, including the right to own land and housing, which is denied for the Palestinian citisens who make up 20% of Israels population. That's also part of why Israel never defined it's borders. In fact, Israel still holds on to land that were concuered during the war, the West Bank and Gaza, building "temporary military settlements". However, the settlements have existed on occupied Palestinian land for over 40 years, and Israel has even equipped it with infrastructure cut off from the Palestinian settlements, there are Israeli schools and even a college, so it doesn't look that temporary..

On the West Bank, Israeli and Palestinians live on the same land but under completely different circumstances. While the israeli have all the resources they need, such as water and agriculture, the Palestinians has next to nothing. To keep the unjust situation in their favour, the Israeli army has punished resistance with raids, arrests and assassinations, all to gain maximum land while making life so difficult for Palestinians that they will either leave or be too frightened to speak up.

Palestinians have fought back. For decades they have tried to achieve national liberation through armed struggle. Some groups still do. The majority today, however, demonstrate their disapproving of Israeli occupation through popular protest instead.

The deeply harmful pattern of control, repression and violence has harmed both Palestinians living under occupations as well as Israelis living as occupants. This must be broken to assure a safe and peaceful future for both people.

Now, what about the solution to the problem? What about peace talks?

So far, over two decades of the US meddling in peace talks has actually made things worse. There has been years of talking and nothing has happened. In fact, Israel has continued its occupation of Palestine, ridding the West Bank and Gaza of Palestine people to make room for Jewish settlers. The US has also funded the Israeli army, making them better equipped to take over Palestine settlements, and of course thereby not helping what so ever, but probably making a lot of money. The israeli army is acrually the biggest recipiant of US foren aid in the world!

So, what has to be done? Real peace talks. Israel needs to listen to reason and Israel and Palestine needs to come to a joined solution where both people gets the amount of land that is fair and the fighting has got to stop. Nobody can go behind the curtain, making money of the conflict, like the US has done, because that will only make things even worse than they are now. Someone who genuinely wants to end the conflict needs to speak up, step up and help Israel and Palestine come to a solution, or the fight will go on for ever.


Aight, that's basically what I have to say about that! Hopefully, the conflict will come to an end at some point, let's just hope it doesn't end because Israel and Palestine has exterminated each other.

I'm a feminist because...

I never gave feminism much thought until I came to university. Before I moved away from my tiny little Norwegian village of 650 people, I didn't realise how bad it actually is. This is some of the reasons why I'm a feminist. The statistics are found on the internet, of course, and I did get inspiration for this list on the internet as well, but I stand by the things on this list and these are my opinions still.

So here they are, 35 reasons to be a feminist!

  

• I'm a feminist because girls are taught in public schools that when she has sex for the first time, she'll "loose a part of her self."
   
• I'm a feminist because girls are told that the first time they have sex will be very painful and there could be blood involved. (Utter bullshit, by the way)
   
• I'm a feminist because women who has a lot of sex are sluts, while guys are studs.
   
• I'm a feminist because when a woman turns 60 years old, she will have earned $450.000 less than a 60 year old man in the exact same position.
   
• I'm a feminist because of cat calling and street harassment, and no, it's not a bloody compliment!
   
• I'm a feminist because boobs are used to sell everything from burgers to soap, but don't you dare breast feed in public!
   
• I'm a feminist because of how much pressure we put on girls to value their appearance above everything else.
   
• I'm a feminist because 1 in 4 young women are sexually assaulted and society still asks "what was she wearing?"
   
• I'm a feminist because male victims of rape are rarely believed when reporting the crime because "guys want to have sex all the time anyway, right?"
   
• I'm a feminist because in Saudi Arabia, women still can't vote or drive.
   
• I'm a feminist because half the girls in Yemen will become child brides.
   
• I'm a feminist because 65% of Brasilians believe that if a woman is wearing revealing clothes, she deserves to get raped.
   
• I'm a feminist because a woman is raped every 14 seconds in South Africa.
   
• I'm a feminist because every day, in every corner of the world, womens bodies are used as battle grounds in wars started by men.
   
• I'm a feminist because of Amanda Todd, Alicia Garcia, Cherize Morales and the sexism that drew them to end their own lives.
   
• I'm a feminist because in the US in 2013, the political body making desicions over everyone elses bodies were over 80% male.
   
• I'm a feminist because women don't get to decide over their own bodies. In the US, 77% of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of those will never be pregnant.
   
• I'm a feminist because men occupy the top runs of not just politics, but every industry in the world!
   
• I'm a feminist because women only hold 1 in 4 stem jobs. We own 6% of TV stations and 5% of executive positions in the media are held by a woman.
   
• I'm a feminist because people still say that asexuals, bisexuals and transgender people don't exist.
   
• I'm a feminist because in 34 states in the US, it's LEGAL to discriminate against someone who's transgender.
   
• I'm a feminist because the idea of same sex marriage shouldn't be so hard to graps as it obviously are to a lot of people.
   
• I'm a feminist because women are constantly sexualised and objectified while men get credit for their skills and professions.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are parts of this world where women are the ones who gets punished after being sexually assaulted.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are people who actually think it's not rape if the other person is sleeping.
   
• I'm a feminist because we live in a society that teaches women to be careful so they don't get raped instead of teaching men not to rape.
   
• I'm a feminist because the notion that men rape because they are pigs that can't control their urges is utterly disgusting.
   
• I'm a feminist because approximately 3 million girls are victims of female genital mutilation each year.
   
• I'm a feminist because there are approximately 2 million victims of sex trafficking each year. 85% of these are women.
   
• I'm a feminist because in 31 states in the US, if a woman gets pregnant as a result of rape and decides to keep the child, her rapist can sue for custody and visitation rights.
   
• I'm a feminist because women who report sexual harassment in the work place are seen as prudes and career experts advise women not to report it.
   
• I'm a feminist because when I walk home from the library alone at night, I hold my keys so that they stick out between my fingers because I'm scared of being assaulted.
   
• I'm a feminist because I want women like me being represented in movies and films - and not have them regulated as the fat, stupid friend that all the thin girls hang out with because they feel sorry for her.
   
• I'm a feminist because most films fail the Bechdel test, where the only requirements are for two named female characters to talk to each other about something besides sex and
  relationships, if only once.
    
•  I'm a feminist because when Austria won Eurovision this year, there were so unbelieveably many comments on facebook and tweets on twitter about how it's disgusting that Eurovision even let a drag performance on stage. I think the performance and the fact that it won is a massively positive message to send to the thousands and thousands of transgender people who suffer from discrimination and bullying on a regular basis.
    
• I'm a feminist because I believe in gender equality and I know we're not there yet.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and tell me why!

Sleep rape VS assault rape

In the last few days, we've had a discussion going on in the media in Norway about systematicly grading the seriousness of rape cases. As far as I've understood, without having read all the articles about it, but a fair few still, there's been a thought that there should be a grading system in place so that we can label the seriousness of any rape case. Also, again as I've understood, it's been said or hinted about how sleep rape isn't as serious as assault rape, and that's what I'm focusing on right now. These are my thoughts on the matter.

Apparently, sleep rape isn't as serious as assault rape because the victim is likely to have flirted with the perpetrator earlier in the evening. Sleep rapes are usually carried out by someone that knows the victim or that has gone to bed with the victim following a party. Does that make sleep rape okay? If you are woken up by your one night stand shoving his reproductive organ into you using nothing but force, are you supposed to accept it because you flirted with him earlier in the night? Because you slept with him before falling asleep? What if the offender is your boyfriend or husband, is it okay for them to rape you in your sleep because you love them, trust them, because you have a close relationship with them? NO. 

Assault rape is what we recognise as being attacked by a stranger and dragged off into a bush. This is clearly serious cases and also the cases where the perpetrator are most likely to not even be found as a suspect because they are usually not known by the victim. Is it okay? No, and I think we all agree on that.

Now, what's more serious? Sleep rape or assault rape? My opinion is that the two can't be compared. In the case of a sleep rape, the victim can find themselves unable to trust other people afterwards because the assailant was someone they loved and trusted, impairing the victim of the ability to findsomeone they can trust and open up to in the same way again. If the perpetrator was a one night stand, trust issues towards unknown people still applies. In the case of an assault rape, the victim could find themselves frightened to leave the house at night if at all. The chance of physical injury might also be greater as the perpetrator has no relationship to the victim and could be less likely to care if they live or die.

By the way, would you say that being raped while asleep is not assault? Because I certainly would. It's forced intercourse, no matter how you look at it and it's assault either way.

What I'm trying to say is that there's no way to say which is more serious. The seriousness of the offence has to be seen from the victims eyes, The seriousness of the assault comes down to the greatness of the physical and psycological trauma to the victim, not the type of situation in which it was sustained. The seriousness of rape cases can not be labeled from the type of situation, because not everyone handles trauma in the same way. Some handle trauma well and are able to go back to their normal lives faster than others. Each rape case is unique and has to be seen as unique. There can't be any short cuts in dealing with rape cases.

To be perfectly honest, I can't wait to be done with my education so I can deal with these kinds of issues myself. I can't wait to be able to give my opinions as a professional, and believe me, there'll be some opinions out there from yours truly once I've got a degree and a badge, just wait for it!

UNICEF Tap Project

How long can you go without your phone? 10 minutes? Prove it and help save a life at the same time!

According to UNICEF, 768 million people lack access to safe, clean drinking water, 2.5 billion people live without proper sanitation and 1,400 children die every day from diseases linked directly to unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation.

Millions of children lack clean water. How long can you go without something far less vital... like your phone?

Together, UNICEF and clothing designer Giorgio Armani are running a website called UNICEF Tap Project. Visit the homepage (Google UNICEF Tap Project) in the browser of your phone and get started. For every 10 minutes you can go without your phone, 1 day of clean water will be donated to children in need.

I think we can all agree that people today, especially young people, spend far too much time on their phones. How often have you gone to pre drinks or a party or just to the pub or what ever and realised after a while that nobody's saying anything because you're all on your phone, tweeting, instagramming or updating your facebook status about what a great time you're having? We've all been there.

Lets be honest, do you really need your phone as much as you use it? No matter what your answer to that question is, I think it's safe to say that you don't need it as much as dying children need clean water. So try it out, if you can't go for more then 10 minutes, then at least you've helped donate 1 day of clean water to a child in need and, you never know, maybe it'll help you see that you're just a tad more attached to your phone than what's healthy for you?

My best friend, cancer and my thoughts.

I don't know if it's my place to be writing this, since I'm not the one who's sick and I hope that everyone understands that I'm not writing this to gain any form of attention from her situation what so ever, I'm simply trying to vent. To let out some of the steam that's building up in my head, and to put my worst fears at the moment into words in the hope that by doing so, it'll be easier to handle. If you read this, Camilla, and there's something I get wrong, then please correct me. If you want me to take it down, I will.

Camilla and I went to school together for a year in 2010/2011. When we started our second year of common studies, she started a chef's line at another school so I obviously didn't see her that much. You'd think that in that situation, you would sort of drift apart and eventually stop speaking to each other. Well, I guess we sort of did for a while. We had contact on a regular basis, but more once a month that every day like we used to. Still, Camilla remained one of my best friends, one of the ones that I really felt like I could tell anything to. That's the communication we've had for the past three years. Some periods we've talked more than others, but no matter how long it was since we talked, we could always message each other if there was something we needed, or just wanted, to talk about, and the other one would be there.

When I decided to move to England, I'll admit that I half expected to lose contact with most, if not all, of my old friends and I am sorry to say that I though Camilla might be one of the ones that I would lose contact with, since we hadn't seen each other that much lately and we were having one of those periods where we didn't talk as much. However, when I moved, I realised that when everyone else was starting to grow tired of me only talking about England and my friends and activities over here, she was always ready to listen. We started skyping. Usually once a week, once every two weeks at the least and I am so grateful for those conversations. Camilla is one of those that when you're talking about issues you're having with people she doesn't even know, she will still listen and then try to contribute with her thoughts and opinions instead of saying things like "oh, that sucks" and "I don't know, really" and I love her so increadibly much for that.

When I was going back for christmas, I knew that she had been to see a gynecologist. She then messaged me while I was in Reading visiting Sharleen, saying that she had got the results back from the gynecologist, and they had informed her that she had cancer. a 9*8cm (roughly 3*3inches) tumor was blocking the left side of her uterus from the back. She was scheduled for surgery in Trondheim about 10 days later, as I recall it. The operation went well, they removed the tumor and a whole lot of other stuff that I can't remember what was at the moment and sent it for testing to see if it was benign or malignant. The test results came back and the tumor was malignant. Cancerous. Dangerous. Scary. Chemo therapy.

On monday this week she had a CT-scan. The gynecologist had found a new mass at 5*6 cm (roughly 2*2 inches) that he/she didn't know what was. It could be blood or other fluid from the operation or it could be another tumor, which would mean that the chemo wasn't working properly. The CT-scan showed that there were cancerous cells, but she was reassured that the chemo should kick it's ass.

On tuesday, she had her third round of chemo therapy and was half way through that hell (yay!). I talked to her for a while as she was getting the chemo therapy and she seemed to be in good spirit, since the chemo should remove the new cancer cells as well as the old ones.

However, today I got a message from her saying that Trondheim had called, saying they wanted her back up there as quickly as possible to do more tests because they were quite alarmed that there were new findings of cancerous cells. I can not begin to describe how scared that made me. Obviously, when talking about cancer, it can go either way, you either beat it or you don't. Now, Camilla is one of the strongest people I know and I know that she can handle just about anything, but even the strongest person in the world has their limit and that's what scares me. What if this is her limit? What are they going to find on the new scans and tests? Is my best friend going to be here next year? I don't know and not knowing scares the shit out of me.

I know that if I had chosen to go to uni in Norway, I wouldn't feel any better than I do now. I still wouldn't have been able to do anything for her, but at least I could be there, physically, once in a while, to hold her hand and talk and let her know that I was really there. Because I don't feel like I am. I mean, we talk almost every day and I try to talk to her about it, ask her how she's doing and what she's thinking to let her know that she can talk to me if she wants to and if she needs to. Also, she has said on her own blog that she want's people to call it what it is. Cancer. She want's people not to beat around the bush about it, because that won't make it any better. She has cancer and that's just how it is. So I try to do that when we talk about it. I try to take everything she has told me about it into concideration every time we talk about it to let her know that I care. That I remember what she told me last week and that I listen. I don't just hear, I listen. Because I think I would appretiate that if I was in her situation, but then again I don't know because I've never had cancer. But as I said, I'm trying as best as I can to show her that I'm here for her in every way and still I feel like I'm not.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm dead scared that she won't make it. I know I should be thinking positively and I shouldn't make up this scenario in my head where I need to buy plane tickets in all haste to go home and say goodbye to one of my bestest best friends in the whole wide world, but when someone who means that much to you has to face something as fucking awful as cancer at 19, you can't help it! I know I probably over react, that she probably will be fine. Still, I can't keep my head from spinning and I can't keep from crying when I think about it.

What makes this all so hard, for me that is, is that I'm so bloody far away. Every time she's told me that she has bad news, this tiny little voice has crept up in the back of my head saying "why the fuck did you move so far away?" and that voice keeps getting stronger. Don't get me wrong, I love that I took the step of moving to England all by my self and I would probably do it again, given the option, but as the situation is, I regret it just a tiny bit. I feel like there's nothing I can do. I know there's nothing I could have done anyway, but being so far away from it all certainly doesn't help.

There is no limit to what I would give for her to be healthy as a horse right this instant. I would sell my sole to the devil and all his demons for her to get well. I love this girl so unbelievably much because we have this friendship where no matter how long it's been since we last talked, we both know that nothing is wrong and that we can pick up where we left off without any awkwardness what so ever and I've never had that before.

I love you to the moon and back, babe. When I come home, we'll put sticker stars on our faces again and we'll have a laugh and take selfies like we used to.

If there is a God, then can you please do something? If you exist and you did put us all here, can you please let Camilla stay until we're old and grey and have 15 grandkids each and we're sitting in a nursing home comparing battle wounds? Can you please let this magnificent ray of sun shine stay on this earth to live a full life? Can you please make sure that she will be able to have children when this nightmare is over? Can you please just make my best friend well? I need her, don't take her away from me.

Target's photoshopped bikini models

EDIT: I have no clue what happened with the background colour on the text further down and I can't figure out how to change it.. Hope you'll all forgive my horrible computer skills!


Has anyone seen what Kjendis, the Huffington Post or the New York Daily News has written about Target's new bikini models? Well I have. Take a look at these pictures.

What the hell happened to her left arm? Who in their right mind photoshopped one of this girls arms to be longer than the other and decided that it looked good? 

The girl has got a spike in her armpit and on her hip! Seriously, if you're going to release a photoshopped ad for bikinis, at least photoshop it to look realistic! And that thigh gap? Thigh gaps are ridiculous as is, but this poor girl looks like she's had her lady parts cut out with scissors.. Honestly, I can't see what purpose this is supposed to serve. What on earth could be so wrong with this model that caused the advert agency to decide that she looked better without a crotch? 

What annoys me so incredibly about this advert (apart from the ridiculoussly bad photoshopping skills of the poor graphic design intern assigned this job) is that the "Xhilaration® Junior's Midkini 2-Piece Swimsuit -Leopard Print" is part of Target's JUNIOR line. In other words, it's for children. Let's be honest, aren't there enough young girls with eating disorders from having their minds twisted by media and marketing as is, without them having to see this as well? Do we really need to photoshop young girls? When are we going to start photoshopping babies for adverts? Or are we already doing that? When I some day have children and look in catalogs to find new clothes for them, will I see a 10 month old child with a thigh gap and a sexy pose? I really hope not.

When we're on the subject of me raising children. Will my daughter have to grow up in a world where the hottest thing you can have is a thigh gap? Because I'll tell you one thing. It does not matter how much you starve yourself, unless you have wide hips, you won't be able to achieve a thigh gap. Besides, if you haven't got one without the effort, why would you want one? The only positive thing I can think about with a thigh gap is that you don't get a rash between your legs from your thighs rubbing together when you're wearing a bikini, but that's about it. I mean, if you have a thigh gap naturally, then good for you, but I hardly think the rest of us should starve to get one? Personally, I don't think any of us should starve to get anything. Starving leads to eating disorders and an untreated eating disorder can, and will, kill you and that's not what you want. 

Any guy who reads my blog, can you comment, saying if you think thigh gaps are a must or not? Because I remember seeing this tweet a couple of weeks ago that said 

"Wow, look at the thigh gap on that one!

-No man ever."

And I think it had like 20.000 retweets and I can't find it now but I know it's out there, and please, guys, can you do me a favour and comment, saying what you think about thigh gaps? I would greatly apretiate it, because I don't get the whole thigh gap thing. 

Lastly, I want to specify that I'm not having a go at anyone who has a thigh gap from nature's side. If you're born with wide hips and you have a low fat percentage, then having a thigh gap is perfectly fine. What I'm trying to say is that I hope no one is starving themselves to get one. Chances are, you won't be able to. So let's just agree that we won't do that, alright? Splendid. 

Gifset: Health care

6 March 2014

Aasif Mandvi interviews Fox Business commentator, Todd Wilemon.

Talk about having complete lack of connection to the people you're referring to...

Children having children

I've always wanted children. A little girl and a little boy would be perfect, but as long as they're healthy, that's of course what matters (don't panic, mum, I'm not pregnant). I have, however, always wanted my children to be born at the right time, as I'm sure most people want. But I've had different opinions of when the right time has been. When you plan these things, your future typically looks like this:

1. You've finished your education

2. You have a husband/wife

3. You have a home of your own

4. You have a stabile income to provide for your family

However, things doesn't always work out the way we want them to, as we all know, and since I became 15-16 up until now, I've thought a lot about the consept of children having children. Teen mums and dads trying to raise a child on their own, and I've had a lot of opinions on how I well I would manage if I did get pregnant at a young age.

At 15 years old, I thought having children was no problem. "I've babysat before, I could be a mum now," was the thoughts that went through my 15 year old mind. "I can do anything I set my mind to." It's a nice thought, but no, sweetie, you can't. I cannot begin to describe how glad I am that I didn't have a child at that point. The learning curve would have been so steep I would have cried myself to sleep and I would probably not even be a proper mum, as my parents would have had to do a whole lot of the work for me. 

I then turned 16. I had started on a new school and in less than a month from my birthday, I had a boyfriend. With becoming sexually active, came the pregnancy scares. We talked about it and tried to act adult about it, but as far as that went, I think he was the most adult of us. At the time I thought that he was being an irresponsible idiot for wanting to have an abortion if I became pregnant. I thought that "if you think you are old enough to have sex, you should be old enough to deal with the potential consequenses. Three years later I see how right he was. I was the irresponsible one. Keeping a child at that point would be unfair to the child. We wouldn't be able to take care of it on our own and we wouldn't be able to get the education we wanted becacuse of that. The scariest thing is that it would have been my choice, and if I had become pregnant, there's a possibility that I would have been stubborn enough to put him through the one thing he was dead scared of, just to prove to him that I was right, that we could do it. That thought has haunted me. Having a child out of misfortune and spite, instead of love. Of course, we would have loved that child, but the circumstances of how it came to be would have been dreadful. How could I think that at 16, we would handle becoming parents if we had to? 

I turned 17. About four months after my birthday, I became single. I grew up a lot that year and started to see things a bit more clearly. I understood a bit more of the burdens of having children. I still thought that I would have been able to handle it if I did become pregnant at this point. I mean, after all I was 17 years old. I saw that it wasn't easy, that it took a lot of work and money, money that I had no chance of getting hold of, but I still thought that I could have done it. I probably could have, but not in the way that I would have wanted to. 

I turned 18. Got my drivers license. I worked a lot and that was probably the point in my economical history where I would have been most likely to handle having a child. I would have had to keep living with my parents if I became pregnant at this point, but the thought of having children started to appeal to me on another level. The thought that someone would be completely dependant on me to survive and become a decent human being was endearing to me. However, there was something else that put a definite stopper to my positive thoughts. I wanted to move abroad to study. I had been single for about a year and had no plan changing that, since moving to England would mean meeting a lot of new people. And now that I had a definite plan about what I wanted to do for university, I knew that if I did get pregnant as the result of a one night stand or something, I would have to make the decision of having the pregnancy termintated. I had no issues with that, seeing as there were little to no chance that I would get pregnant. 

I moved to England and I turned 19. I'm now 19 and 5 months and I have 7 months left as a teenager. If I get pregnant now, I'll be 20 before the child is born, as long as it's not premature. But you know what? The thought that was so inviting a year ago, scares me to death at this point. The thought of someone, a small innocent child, being completely dependant on me to even survive is so frightening that there has been times lately that I have thought "do I really want to bring a child into this world someday?" Because it is a scary world. Between the government corruption, overpopulation, my own congenital heart defect that I don't know if is genetic or not, and the amount of complete and utter idiots that inhabit this world, I'm scared to put another human being onto the world and having to take care of it and take responsibility for it's actions until it turns 18 years old. I'm not sure if I want to put a child through the suffering it is to live in this world.

At some point, in 6-7 years, I will be ready, but not yet. The words do not exist that are strong enough to explain how extremely happy I am that I didn't get pregnant while my head was in the sand. If I had, I wouldn't have been where I am today. I would have been somewhere else, somewhere equally or more exciting and wonderful, but I wouldn't have the same oportunities. I would be able to watch a small, beautiful child of my own grow up to discover the world that I have come to fear just a little, but I wouldn't be able to do the same. I wouldn't be sat in my own room, in a flat that I pay for, writing this stuff to procrastinate to get out of doing an assignment that's actually quite interesting! I wouldn't be learning about how the world works from a criminological point of view and I wouldn't be able to go to class and learn about things that has fascinated me my whole life. I would be changing diapers, working a minimum wage job and living life day to day, not living abroad, doing what's going to give me the chance of getting a high end job, making me able to single handedly care for my future children. I think I'm better off as I am at the moment. 

Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing but respect for those that choose to go through with their pregnancies when they are teenagers and I think that if I would have had to, I would have embraced motherhood gladly and never looked back. I mean, since I've never had children, I don't actually know what I'm talking about, but I have a feeling that when I do have children, I will thank myself for doing it the way that I always planned. I think that when I have children and I get to experience all the things that comes with motherhood, I will thank everything that's holy that I didn't get pregnant as a teenager. I think it's brave to have children as a young adult, but these are my thoughts about my life, and I'm glad I haven't gone down that road yet, even though I'm sure I wouldn't have regret it if I had.

Just as a little side note at the end, if you've read through all this mess, first of all, I can't believe you could actually be bothered following my mess of a thought process all the way here. Second of all, I want to say that if you have read all of this, it's probably going to seem as if I do nothing but think about babies. I do. You do a lot of thinking from the age of 15 to 19, and I don't think about starting a family as much as I seem to, just so that it's been said.

A blogpost about everything.

This weekend was a hectic one. Not that it was a lot of stress or anything, but with 2500 words to write, not a lot of time to do it and no clue of how to start, it became quite hectic after all. However, its' done now and I've had today off and I have tomorrow off as well, so the plan is to sleep a lot, hang out with friends and catch up on the tv series that I watch. Granted, tv series should maybe not be a big part of my life, but it is and I don't think that's all that bad. Another thing I will be doing, is keeping myself updated on the conflict going on between Russia and Ukrain.

I obviously don't know if any of my readers have been paying attention to the Russia-Ukrain conflict, but as it has the potential of launching a critical hit to the world economy or in the worst case scenario, a situation of war, I have been keeping myself in the loop. The US and other G8 countries has made threats about sanctioning Russia, stopping the trade market between the countries if Russia doesn't admit defeat. Luckily, Russia and Ukraine has commenced political communication and the situation seems a lot more stabile now than it did yesterday. There's still a chance that it will escalate and that sanctions towards Russia will have to be launched, which will have a massive impact on the economy, driving oil prices, among other things, sky high. Hopefully, though, Moscow will have to realise that the western revolution has reached Ukrain with the downfall of Janukovich and that the majority of the Ukranian people wishes for democracy and a pro-western government, rather than the one Putin poses.

I don't know what it is about these kinds of situations, but they interest me to the moon and back! I don't think I could have ever been a politician myself, the sacrifices you have to make and the game you have to play would have been to much for me, but I like to keep my self informed and to discuss with others. After all, if you don't know what's going on in the world, how can you play a part in changing it for the better? I know that sounded remarkably similar to that of an aspiring politician, but I have no intention of entering either the Norwegian or the UK parliament. I mean, I could, if I wanted to. Probably. Maybe. However, the way that the UK parliament is run, with all the members having practically grown up together, 85% having been in class together at Oxford or Cambridge, I not only doubt that I as a foreign woman would have stood a chance of getting in, but I don't think I would have wanted to. Politics is too much ass kissing and back rubbing for my taste.

Enough politics. It's now past 2am. I should be sleeping, but I'm not. When I should be awake, I'm not. My entire sleeping pattern has been turned up side down and it's down right scary. I have a theory that the most important things I can do to protect my heart is

1. Eat healthier
2. Exersice more
3. Remeber to take the medication
4. Don't drink too much alcohol
5. Get enough sleep.

So far I've been able to do the first four, but keeping a stabile sleeping pattern is, to me, just as easy as breaking into Fort Knox.. I'm able to get up and go to lectures and stuff, I still function even though I don't get the amount of sleep I should on a regular basis and at the correct times, but getting that routine is really hard. I've been thinking of trying to put on an alarm at 10am every day, and actually force myself to not sleep any longer, maybe that would help. It would be nice to get that routine down, haven't had a proper sleeping pattern in about a year..

Right. 2.30. Maybe I should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow (today, depending on how you look at it), we're celebrating Hollie's birthday! If I have the time, I'm also going into town to et some yarn (yes mum, you heard me), I've seen this great youtube film about how to knit your own scarf, so I'm going to try that, maybe I can finally get the scarf that I've been looking for for years! But mainly, we're celebrating Hollie's birthday. I'll try to take some pictures and post them on the blog tomorrow night!

Can't sleep to save my life

I have no idea about what to blog about at the moment, so I'll do an "ask me" sheet, so that you might get to know me a bit better. There might be some surprises in here for people that know me as well, actually! That sounded really stuck up, but you know what I meant.

1. Is this the best year of your life?

If we're talking about school years, then yes, definitely. I do miss the people I used to go to school with and I somewhat miss living with my parents just for the sake of being able to see them every day, but as far as independence, responsibility and adventures goes this has definitely been the best year of my life.

2. What was the first thing you did when you woke up?

I checked Sims on my tablet. I started playing a few days ago and I'm totally hooked at the moment!

3. The person you like is..

.. probably not going to read this, but I don't want to take any chances. We don't know each other that well and I wouldn't like to be portrayed online without any say in what goes into the text, if I were in his shoes. Let's just say my closest friends knows who it is and that I like him a lot.

4. Is anything bothering you?

The only thing that I keep thinking about is that I don't know what I'm going to do for mobility during summer vacation. I mean, I know that it's probably good for me, not being able to go anywhere by car because it will save me a lot on fuel and shopping expenses, and my parents have said that they won't mind driving me to and from work even if I do have night shifts, but I'm not sure I'm going to have the heart to ask them to come pick me up in the middle of the night two nights a week for four months.. And also, my dad will be at sea for a lot of that time, and I think that's way too big a burden to put on my mum.

I get that the doctors took my drivers license away because of secutiry matters, to make sure I won't hurt myself or others, but it still sucks. It takes away every sense of independence and adulthood that I feel like I have when I'm at home. I didn't feel independent at all until I got my drivers license and was able to go where I wanted, but now that's been taken away. I've understood that to get it back, I'll have to pass the same test that I had done over christmas and I'm dead scared that I won't. I can't go without a drivers license for ever, because I love driving so unbelieveably much and all my friends from back home can vouch for that being the truth! I just hope this nightmare will be over in a year.

5. Does anyone annoy you? 

I'm not going to answer that, because if there's anyone I'm annoyed with, I'd rather take it up with them than to have them read some text on my blog, realise it's about them and feel hurt. Let's be grown up about stuff like this, shall we?

6. Would you like things to go "back to normal" with a certain someone?

Yes. I think everyone has someone in their life that they wish things would go "back to normal" with. However, because of the reasons listed in No. 5, I want to do my best to not tell my side of the stories in any drama I might be having in my life on this blog, because I would rather talk it out with them than to have them read my side of the story here and maybe get the wrong impression.

7. What was the last thing you did before going to bed last night?

Brushed my teeth, undressed, put on my obnoxiously big t-shirt that I usually sleep in, and went to bed.

8. Is life good?

Life would be better if I still had my drivers license and was allowed to drink, but other than that, life is good!

9. Do you remember who you liked on New Years?

I don't think I liked anyone on New Years, really.

10. Do you still like them? 

Since I didn't like anyone, I can't still like them, can I?

11. Do you still speak to them?

Same as above.

12. Ever told your parents you were going somewhere but went somewhere else? 

Yes. 8th December 2012 me and the girl that are coming to visit on tuesday, Kristine, went to Tønsberg (about 9 hours of driving from where we live) to watch our favourite band, Oslo Ess (who's coming out with a new record today by the way!), perform. My parents thought I was at Kristine's place and her parents thought that we were at another friends place, while really, we were 9 hours away in her dad's brand new car. It was undoubtedly the most fun road trip I've ever been on!

Fun fact from that trip: It was -26 degrees celsius and Kristine thought it was a good idea to wash the car. Not in a carwash, by hand, outside a gas station somewhere in between where we live and Tønsberg. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the customers and staff in the gas station when we tried to wash the car when it was 26 degrees below the freezing point!

13. Are you dating the last person you kissed on the lips? 

No.

14. Do you hate the last girl you had a conversation with?

You can just tell that some of these questions are designed to create drama! The answer is boring, it's no. The last girl I had a conversation with was Sharleen, and I love her to bits!

15. Would you go out with someone right now if they asked? 

I wouldn't go out with just anyone, since I'm dating someone, and if he asked me if I wanted to go do something right now I would have probably said no, seeing as it's 2AM at the moment and I have 9AM lectures tomorrow. However, if he turned up outside my door at this second, I would have to say yes, wouldn't I?

16. Three days from now, will you be in a relationship?

I doubt it. We are taking things very slow and I like it that way. Give it three weeks or three months, and the answer might be different!

17. If someone liked you right now, would you want them to tell you? 

No. I like the guy I'm dating and they wouldn't get anything from telling me except heart ache and a ruined friendship. However, what you need to get over someone is often a rejection, so it might help them move on to someone else.

18. Have you kissed anyone in the last month?

I haven't kissed anyone, but I've been kissed.

19. What was the last reason you went to the doctor for?

Heart related issues.

20. Do you like being home alone or does it freak you out?

I absolutely love being home alone. I can listen to what ever music I want as loud as I want, I can sing as loud as I want without disturbing anyone, I can cook what I want when I want it, I basically don't have to take precautions about anything other than myself and my own needs and wants. Not that I have issues living with other people, but I'm looking forward to the day when I'm financially stable enough to have my own place.

21. Would you ever kiss someone you texted today?

Yes, definitely, and I hope it happens in the near future! *girly giggle*

22. Do you have any bruises at the moment? 

I have one on my thigh, but I have no idea how it got there.

23. How was 2011 for you?

I have a feeling this list is a bit old, haha! Let's see, 2011.. That year I did the last semester of year 11 and the first semester of year 12. I had a boyfriend who I loved very much and I think that on the whole, I was pretty happy that year. However, the relationship did start to get a bit shaky at the end of 2011 and we broke up in february 2012. Two years ago today actually, funnily enough!

24. How late did you stay up last night and why?

About 3AM, I think. Why? Because the lack of a firm schedule like the one I had when I had lectures all day every day followed by swimming practices and then work, has led to a tendency of being awake late and waking up in the middle of the day. I guess it's just how it is to be a student.

25. Do you ever get good morning texts from anyone?

I wish.

26. Do you regret anything you've done lately? 

Not that I recall.

27. What woke you up today?

Not being able to sleep any longer.

28. What makes you happy?

A lot of things. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to have such a great life. By that, I mean how fortunate I am to have parents who are loving and supportive and to have a lot of friends who love me.

29. Ever kissed on a boat?

Yes.

30. Have you ever been told that you are amazing?

Yes, actually!

31. Finish the sentence: the last person I kissed is...

... not likely to ever kiss me again.

32. This time last year, can you remember who you liked?

No, I can't.

33. Do you like when people play with your hair?

Well, since the question is phrased like that, I'd like to specify that even though I do like it when someone specal plays with my hair, it's a whole different story if "people" does it. To all the random, to me unknown people in the world, if you play with my hair without permission, you will have an issue.

34. Do you plan on sleeping in tomorrow?

I wish I could, but I have 9AM lectures, so I can't.

35. Waiting for something?

I'm waiting to have my drivers license back. Only 360 days to go!

36. Was last night terrible?

I don't see why it should have been, and no, it wasn't.

37. Did you lose friends when you started dating someone? 

No, I can't remember that happening to me. I think I had less contact with some of my friends in the "hoeymoon" stage of my relationship with my ex, but when we started calming down a bit, I realised that I should take better care of my friends, and we started having more contact again.

38. Are you the type of person that make people laugh?

I've been told that I am, but I'm far from a class clown.

39. Don't tell me lies, so is the last person you texted attractive?

The last person I texted was Sharleen and that bitch is hot! But I guess I'm supposed to talk about the guy I like and I think he's very attractive. He's also one of the last people I texted.

40. Is tomorrow going to be a good day? 

That depends on what state I'm in when I wake up. If I'm in that "what year is it, where am I, what's my name" state, it will definitely be a bad day filled with a lot of yawning and energy drinks. If I feel deceptively well rested when I wake up and the weather is nice, it will be a good day!

41. Are you missing someone?

I'm missing a lot of someones. I miss all my friends back in Norway, especially Camilla, who has cancer. I just want to wrap my arms around her and protect her from every thing that can go wrong in her life until she beats it, but I know full well that even if I did live at home, I wouldn't be able to.

I miss my parents and my brother like crazy, but I guess I always will as long as I'm not living there.

I miss the guy I'm dating because he's so lovely and sweet and kind and fun to be around.

I miss my nan because she's been gone for 10 years and I wish she could see how grown up I am now in comparison to before she died (granted, I was 9). I wish I could show her how well I'm doing on my own, making a life and a name for my self. I really hope she's proud of both me and my brother, where ever she is.

42. Has anyone ever tried to ruin a relationship you were in?

Not that I know of.

43. Do you believe in karma? 

No.

44. Do you sleep with a fan on?

No?

45. Do you think anyone is thinking about you right now?

I doubt anyone who would think about me is even awake to be honest. However, I do hope that the guy I'm dating thinks about me sometimes during the day.

46. Is there anyone you wish you were spending time with right now? 

Not really. I want to sleep.

47. Do you go to school?

I study BA Criminology at University of Winchester.

48. Is the person you last texted single?

No.

49. Who was driving the last time you were in a car?

The taxi driver.

50. Have you ever used the word "rawr" in an actuall sentence? 

Haha, not that I can recall!

51. Are the blinds on your window open or closed?

Open on one, closed on the other.

52. Did you leave milk and cookies for santa when you were little? 

I can't really remember a time where I was all that obsessed with santa, to be honest. I do remember leaving a carrot outside the door for the easter bunny once, though.

53. What were you doing at 11 last night? 

I think that was when I left the pub to go home and watch the rest of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I know, I have an amazingly interesting life!

54. What could you eat any day of the week and never get tired of?

Chocolate.

55. Is there someone you wouldn't mind kissing right now?

Yes.

56. Someone knocks on your window at 5am, what do you say?

Dude, what the hell?

57. Would you change yourself for the person you love?

I guess I woul chance little things for the person I love, because you have to give to recieve in a relationship. However, major personality traits or similar stuff, he would have to live with. If he doesn't love those things, he's can't love the rest either.

58. Let me guess, the last incoming call was from the opposite sex?

Uhm, yeah, from my lil' bro!

59. What are you supposed to be doing right now?

I have 9AM lectures and it's 2.45AM at the moment. Guess!

60. Would you have sex with the 5th person on your contacts? 

No.

61. To who did you last give the finger to? 

Probably Liva.

62. did your last kiss take place on a bed?

No.

63. Do you have someone who you can be your complete self around?

No, I think I change a tiny bit depending on who I'm with.

64. Do you talk in your sleep?

Haven't heard anything.

65. Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Yes. I do wish I would get to see my dad a bit more often, but he loves working at sea and the fact that he's away a lot makes the time we have together that much more special. Also, a lot of people don't even have a father, so I shouldn't complain that mine works at sea to earn a shitload of money to support my family.

66. What time did you wake up today?

Noon-ish

67. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Looking for a website to watch the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

68. What song are you listening to?

Chester See's amazing cover of "One more night" by Maroon 5

69. Has anyone put their arms around you in the last five days?

Yes. I'm lucky like that, I have a lot of hug-ey friends.

70. How do you feel about chocolate covered strawberries?

Chocolate covered strawberries? Where? WHERE?

71. Do you have nice eyes?

My eyes are the thing(s) I like most about myself!

72. Is your current hair colour your natural hair colour? 

I haven't had my natural hair colour for years, thankfully!

73. Are you texting anybody?

Everyone else in my life are sensible people and have gone to bed, so no, not at the moment.

74. Do you swear in front of your parents?

Who do you think taught me most of it?

75. Concert tickets or NFL game tickets?

Concert tickets.

76. Do you tell your parents everything? 

Mostly.

77. Do you have any tattoos?

Yes, six! See the "Piercing & tattoos" page, the link is on the top of the blog home page.

78. If there was something wrong, who would be the first girl you'd go to? 

If it was very serious, like health issues or financial trouble, I would go to my mum (she's a girl too!) If it was manageable by university students who has recently, or not at all, left their teens I would go to Liva, Kristine or Camilla, or (most likely) all three.

79. Do you have any nicknames?

Hannah is a nickname. It's what people in England call me because Hanne Grethe, understandable enough, isn't pronounceable to them.

80. Will you forward this to other blog authors?

Probably not.

10 annoying things.

I was thinking that since I've only been writing blog entries about my day to day activities and that kind of boring stuff, I should write about something that's actually fun.

I see myself as a quite positive person, or at least I try to be, but there's still a lot of things that annoy me to the point where I feel like I'm going to snap and destroy the entire universe. These are some of them.

1. "I don't mean to be rude, but.." 

Have you ever experienced that burning feeling you get in your stomach when someone says "I don't mean to be rude, but..." and then proceed to say every mean thing you've ever thought about yourself as if saying that they don't mean to be rude gives them every right to be just that - rude! If you're going to be rude to me, just be rude and get it over with, don't hide behind an excuse. Especially not that bad of an excuse.. I'm a big girl, I can take an insult or two. Besides, if you have the need to be rude to me, it might just happen that I don't need you in my life anyway, so you might as well just get your thoughts out in the open before we part ways.

2. People that can't sing but think they can and therefore sings all the time

Now, just to clarify, I'm not talking about those that know they can't sing, but still do it because it's ironic and funny. I'm talking about those that can't sing but think that they can. Those that will volunteer to perform at school gatherings like the christmas play or graduation and then leave the entire audience in a feeling of shame and awkwardness.

Being in the audience while someone truly terrible is on stage acting like they're on the verge of winning Britain's Got Talent is comparable to running on a treadmill. Time stands still. It seems to go on forever and the world just stops in awe of this one person that's so tone deaf that they can't tell that they're unable to hit a note to save their life. And it goes on and on. They never stop because they don't realise how horrible they sound until someone tells them! And if you were to tell them that they suck, it would usually be with the good old "I don't mean to be rude, but..."

3. People that fish for compliments

I'm going to use music to explain this one as well because there was this girl in the choir I was in last semester and she drove me nuts. She was an average singer, she hit the notes almost all the time, but there was nothing special about her voice and she didn't have any more knowledge than anyone else. However, during breaks she would sit there singing to her self while looking around the practice room, hoping that someone would compliment her voice. It really annoyed me because I really wanted to tell her that she didn't sing as well as she thought she did, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings and I didn't know anyone in the choir, so I didn't want to be seen as the mean girl. Obviously, I didn't say anything, but when you have an average voice and you're in a choir, that pretty much means that you're about as good as everyone else in there, and none of us are going to praise you for your average skill. Sorry.

I'm not trying to bash on this girl, there's loads of other examples, but this was the first thing I could think of.

4. People that don't use turn signals while driving

You get in your car. You grab the steering wheel. Right next to the steering wheel, there's this little lever. Do you know what it does? It's a turn signal. It was made to make you able to tell other drivers where you are planning to go. You are also required to use them each time the situation calls for it. 

When you were getting your drivers license, I'm willing to bet my right pinky (yes, the one I pinky swear with) that you were taught how to use turn signals. All I want to know is why you stopped. Not using turn signals not only annoys other drivers when you suddenly slow down to change direction, it's also quite dangerous. For instance, if your brake lights stop working while you're driving and you don't use your turn signals, there's a fair chance that I will hit you in the rear end because tehre were no indications of you slowing down until your car were suddenly on my hood. Also, you will get the blame for the accident because you couldn't signal what you were planning to do. Just saying. 

Turn signals are there for a reason, people!

5. "Do you know what's in that?" 

Yes, I do. I know that there's way too much fat in this piece of food that I've decided to devour. I know that by eating this one additional piece of unhealthy heaven, I will have eaten more calories than I should today. I DO know that it's not healthy. But do you know what? I'm trying to do something about my weight problem. I'm working out and I'm eating healthier than I have in a long time. So get off my back, you don't know what else I've eaten today or this week or this month. The key to a healthy life is to do everything in moderation. If you go from surviving on cheeseburgers, chips and beers to living like a rabbit, eating only lettuce and carrots, you're not going to be able to make the change permanent. Therefore, If you see me eating a candy bar or having a slice or two of pizza, it's because I've deserved it and because I'm doing things moderately. I'm eating healthier food than what you see me eating at this moment. So before you say "do you know what's in that," "you know how many calories are in that, right," or "are you sure you want to eat that" think it through and I hope you come to the conclusion that you should shut the f*** up.

6. Beliebers

I realised that this was getting more serious than first intended, so I'll talk a bit about beliebers to even things out. 

First of all. Justin Bieber has a good voice. He's a talented singer, I'm not having a go at him per say. But seriously, something has got to be done about his fans! Most of you will probably remember that Justin was arrested not too long ago for driving under the influence of alcohol and illicit drugs as well as drag racing. It's bad enough that this 19 year old kid thinks he owns the world and can do what ever he pleases, but some of his fans actually performed the amazing task of saying that Justin wasn't driving under the influence or breaking the speed limit! I've also seen tweets by beliebers saying that "he's just 19 years old, he's allowed to make mistakes." Well, you know what? He's not, actually! There's laws saying that you're not allowed to make these mistakes, no matter the age! Drag racing is dangerous enough when you're sober, but this stuck up little brat were drunk AND high!

I'm of course not saying that all beliebers defend him in everything he does, but the people that thinks he can do no wrong needs a reality check. Sooner rather than later.

7. Chapped nailpolish

All girls have this issue. You spend 45 minutes putting on the perfect nailpolish in your favourite colour and it perfectly matches your outfit for the evening. When the last top coat has finaly dried, giving that poster perfect finish, you're all set to go. You put on your coat and leave the house and everything is good.

You get to wherever you're going, maybe you order a drink and I swear to thor that by the time you've found a seat, the nailpolish has chapped. Not a lot, and only on one finger, but the game is up. You just know that that one little place on that one nail where you can peel the nailpolish off will haunt you for the rest of the night until you finally give in and start messing with it. And when you've ruined one, you might as well pick on all of them until your nails look like this and you're just that tiny bit angry with yourself because you couldn't resist. 

8. Window shopping

We've all been there. In town or at the mall with friends or family but too broke to actually buy something. All you're left with is window shopping, which is bad enough. I can't possibly be the only one that thinks going to the mall without buying anything is a waste of time? I mean, you're surrounded by cool clothes, thousands of shoes you're dying to try on and so much make up that you're sure you might need for that one party in three months time. 

What's so incredibly typical on these occasions is that if you can be 750% sure that the mall is filled with all the stuff you've always needed in your life without even knowing it. It's absolutely amazing how much stuff you like when you go shopping while you're broke. And that's not all. 9/10 times you go window shopping, everything you've ever wanted is being sold 50% off. The frustration builds up as you pass all the clothes that might as well have your name written on them until you just want to curl up in the fetal position on the bathroom floor, crying your eyes out. 

I can also pretty much gurarantee that when you finally have the money to go shopping and buy all the stuff you found that day, it's all either out of stock or there's nothing left in your size. 

9. Washing your hands while waring long sleeves

You know what I'm talking about, right? You're wearing your favourite hoodie and you're just going to wash your hands before having dinner. I can with and almost fool proof guarantee say that one out of two things will happen.

1. You forget to roll up your sleeves before putting soap on your hands. Rolling up one sleeve isn't a problem, because you've only got soap on one hand at that moment, but rolling up the other one is a challange. So you try to hook the end of the sleeve on your pinky to try to pull it up. It works until you get to the elbow, and while you're trying to pull the sleeve around the corner of your elbow with all the power your poor little pinky can muster, the soap drips from your hand onto your jumper and then you're in the exact situation you wanted to avoid in the first place.

2. You remember to roll up the sleeves before putting soap on your hands. You turn on the water and bend down slightly to wash your hands. However, the opening of the sleeves are a few millimetres too big to keep in place, and the movement in your arms while your washing your hands cause the sleeves to slowly descend. You notice this and try to get all the soap off your hands before you're stuck with wet sleeves, but the more vigorously you wash your hands, the more you move your arms and the faster the sleeves roll themselves down. Finally the sleeves unroll fully, but you're only halfway done washing your hands, so you have to make a decision. You either finish washing your hands and risk wet sleeves or you try to get as little soap on them while trying to roll them up with your pinky. If you choose to try to roll the sleeves up with your pinky, we all know what's going to happen. That's right, see option 1.

10. Creating a new password

When I was buying the plain tickets before moving to England, I created a profile with the airline, since I knew that I was going to be doing a fair bit of flying the next few years. I think the first password I tried out was hannegrethe. Your own name should be simple enough to remember, so that's what I chose. 

"Your password must contain at least 8 characters, at least 1 upper case letter and 1 number from 0-9." 

Fair enough. "HanneGrethe1510" then. My birthday is the 15th October, by the way.

"Your password cannot contain your name."

Okay.. HGR15101994. This had better work! 

"Your password cannot contain your initials."

Dammit... Better get creative! HRog151094

"Your password cannot contain your date of birth."

At this point I was more than ready to throw the computer out the window, but since I'd just payed £800 for it, I contained my emotions and kept going. In the end I think I ended up with something like WinchStud16Norway or something similar. In other words, completely forgettable and when I was looking at plain tickets back home for christmas, I didn't have the faintest idea of how to log in...