What a weekend!

Some key words/sentences for this weekend:

• Missed my flight
• Had to have mum buy new tickets
• Strip searched in Stavanger
• Oslo with Kristine
• Consert
• Over weight suitcase
• Not over weight suitcase
• Home
• Sick

It has been an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend. It all started at Friday morning at 7.30am at Winchester Train Station where Liva and I realised our train were non existant. The next train due to leave for Clapham Junction where we would be able to change to Gatwick left so late that I would be at Gatwick at 10am. My flight left at 9.20am. You see the problem? Right. So what do you do?Call mum. Nothing is broken until dad can't fix it and no situation is classified as a crisis until mum can't make new arrangements. So I called mum, crying and panicking slightly. Have I mentioned that I HATE traveling without parent supervision? I hate it. I hate it more than spiders, more than tomatoes and cucumbers, more than not being able to drive. Combined. 

Anyway, I called mum. She was at work, obviously, but took the time to call the airline to change tickets. At this point, I was convinced that the concert me and Kristine were going to were that night at 8pm. Mum called me back and said there was one flight at 9pm that night and changing the tickets were roughly 1500 kroner (£150). Ignorant as I was, I told her that the concert were that night and asked if there were another flight available. There were, at 3pm, but changing the tickets were 4000 kroner (£400) and naturally way too expensive. I asked if she could be a hero and check if SAS had any flights that would be a better match. They did. At 12.05pm, 1100 kroner (£110), so she booked a ticket and said I had better get there in time. And so we went. We had new tickets to Reading from where I got a coach to Heathrow. By the way, the thought of leaving from Heathrow scared the crap out of me. It's huge, it's busy, I'd been there only once before, but I was determined to get to the concert in time. So off I went and I was at Heathrow at 10.30am. I had breakfast at, possibly, the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to in England, but the cheapest I could find at the airport and I waited for the information about what gate to leave from. 

Finally, I got the gate number and I headed in that direction. Got on the plane and fell asleep before it even took off. I then landed in Stavanger, where I met a Norwegian girl who goes to Winchester University and who I know a little bit. We talked for a bit until we'd gotten our luggage, she showed me where to book it in for my next flight and we went our separate ways. 

I checked in the luggage and headed for airport security. This is where it got really interesting. I had 1 hour from my flight from London landed until the flight to Oslo took off and I had forgotten that I had bought a can of Redbull at heathrow that was still in my bag. Naturally, I sent my hand luggage through security and was stopped. At this point I was tired, I was hungry, and I was more than a little bit cranky at the whole travelling thing. the conversation between myself and the airport security guy went something like this:

Him: I see you have a can of liquid in your bag?

Me: Uhm, no?

Him: Yes, you do. Shall we open the bag and have a look?

Me: Sure, go for it..
He opens the bag and finds the can of redbull

Him: What's this then?

Me: Oh, I don't know, a can of Redbull, maybe?

This was my big mistake. I can't remember the rest of the conversation, but I know I said some less than pleasant things and it all resulted in him getting a female security guard to do a strip search. I was brought into a tiny room and told to undress. I was now angry and upset and humiliated and stressed all at the same time. If this wasn't the ultimate test for my heart medication, I don't know what would be. Anyway, I undressed to my underwear and stopped there. "And then the rest," she said. I asked if this was really necessary, it wasn't as if Iwere carrying drugsor anything. She responded saying that if they were to believe everyone's story, they would never confiscate anything, which in hindsight is fair enough, but at the time it mademe even angrier. Mumbling curses and threaths, I undressed until naked. I think I'll spare you the rest of the details. 

Now, just to make things clear, I know it was my own fault. I know they were only doing their job and that they did definitely not deserve for me to be that uncooperative. 

Finished with what might have been in the top 10 list of embarrasing situations in my life, I got dressed, repacked my stuff and headed for the gate. I was the last one to board the plane, but I made it just in time. 

I finally got to Oslo. After having gotten my suitcase I decided to have something to eat, since I didn't have the time in Stavanger. I got two pizza slices and chocolate milk and I sat down in a corner and devoured my meal in less than five minutes. 

Refreshed, I got up, headed for the train station and got on the train. I got to Oslo Central Station and met Kristine, which was a huge relief. Not only was I reunited with one of my closest friends, I didn't was in safe hands where travelling was concerned. We got a bus ticket and headed for her flat. I went to bed at 8pm that night, exhausted but happy to have actually managed to reach my destination. 

Saturday! Of course, at some point during Friday, Kristine saw on Facebook that Oslo Ess wasn't playing at Rockefeller that night, but saturday night in stead. I think I were at Heathrow when she messaged me and I got the tickets out to check and she was right. I am glad she was, though. If I had known in Winchester, it would have cost mum £40 more and if the concert had been friday night I would have been way to tired to enjoy it. Anyway! Kristine showed me around Oslo before we headed to Eirik's flat to get him to go have dinner, before we went back to Kristine's flat to have pre drinks and a little unplanned photoshoot. The concert was absolutely amazing and I am so glad I made it in time! 

I was wearing my blue, white and black dress and we (read: Kristine) curled my hair.

I got my Oslo Ess-hoodie!!

Me, Kristine and Eirik (at the bottom right corner) before the concert! 

I don't have anypictures from the concert, unfortunately, I was way too busy singing, jumping, screaming, shoving, pushing and swearing to get my phone out. There are some people who seem to only go to concerts to make the experience as unbearable for the rest of us as possible, but that didn't ruin it for us, we still had a great time andour favourite band is really as good as ever, if not better! 

Sunday morning it was time to go home. Oslo Airport isn't as big an issue for me anymore, I've been there enough times to know my way around by now, but I had to get the bus from Kristines flat to the Central Station alone, because Kristine wasn't feeling all too good, hehe. However, it went fine, I got on the bus and I found my way at the station. I was even able to check in to my flight at the station, so when I got to the airport, all I had to do was to hand it in. 

Another problem arose. At the airport, they have those self service check in machines, and Norwegian only lets you take 20 kilograms on board. SAS let you take 22, so that was alright, but my suitcase was 27 kilograms and I had to take the heaviest stuff out of my suit case and put it in the hand luggage or pay 90 kroner (£9) per kilogram. I then had to open the suitcase in the middle of the airport and let everyone see everything I had in there, from underwear and socks to dresses and shoes. Naturally, I did my best to speed up the process and managed to get the weight down to 21 kilograms, but the machine just would not budge. I thought "you know what? I can spare 90 kroner." and headed for the lady behind the counter. She weighed my suitcase, put a red tag on it that said "heavy" and told me to have a pleasant flight. In other words, I probably could have put another one or two kilos of clothes and shoes in there and not been fined. Which was lovely, now I was dragging along half my suitcase in my already ruined blue bag and I could not wait for this nightmare of a trip to be over. I got to security, and what happens? The bloody thing beeped on me. I turned around and tried again and luckily, it was alright, because otherwise I think I would have broken down in tears. 

I found which gate to go to, found the gate and waited for boarding to start. Obviously, there were three or four of those obnoxiously annoying kids running around screaming and shouting, but at that point I was slightly apathic about the whole thing and decided not to give a crap. I got on the plane, sat down and closed my eyes. I was nearly there, just an hours flight left and I would see my mum and my brother and I could rest. Naturally, a guy came up and said "hey, you're in my seat." And naturally, since I have such a sweet disposition when I'm tired and annoyed, I replied "hey, no I'm not." Turned out I was. I really do need to work on my manners under certain circumstances.. 

Got in my seat, which of course was placed directly behind the obnoxiously annoying kids from before, and we finally had lift off. I fell asleep after the Fasten your seatbelt-sign had turned on again at the end of the flight and woke suddenly when the plane hit the ground, but I was there. I got my hand luggage, I got my suitcase and went to find my mum. 

Yesterday, I really didn't do much. I just hung out at home, watching Norwegian TV and eating free food (never take free food for granted, kids). 

Today I woke up, clogged. No, seriously, I can't breathe. I'm sick and I'm pretty sure it's due to that ridiculoussly cold bench me and Kristine were sitting at after the concert while waiting for Eirik. To be fair though, I had the best kebab of my life just half an hour later, so it's fine. 

Tomorrow I'm going to the doctors, to talk about what to do about my driverslicens and all that as well as getting some information about the medication I'm on, how long I have to take it and so on. I am definitely loking forward to that and I already have a whole list of questions for the good doctor who's been my GP since the GP service was initiated. It's a shame he's retiring, really. Anyway, I'm going to sleep, hoping that my cold will be better by tomorrow! 

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?

home sickness or not home sickness - that's the question!

Do I want to go home? Yes. Do I want to go home? No. I don't know, at the moment. Not that it really matters, I'm going home anyway, but I thought I'd write my thoughts down to figure out what I'm actually dealing with, since that was the original reason why I started the blog.

Going home - pros 

Seeing my family. If there's anyone who's been following the blog for a while, you'll know that my mum came to visit in february to give me the heart medication prescribed by my GP back home, so it hasn't really been that long since I saw her, but I really miss my brother! We have a good relationship, by my opinion anyway, and I miss hanging out with him. Not that I don't miss my mum, obviously I do, but you get my point. I am quite sad my dad won't be home, though.

Going to Spain. I'm going to Playa del Ingles, Spain with my mum and brother and I can't wait! I think it'll do me good to have a whole week without anything to worry about exept which book to bring to the beach. I'm going to leave electronics and so on at home and just relax. Do nothing, just recharge my batteries and chill out with two of my favourite people. Don't worry though, I'll probably bring the tab2 to take pictures and post on the blog. Besides, I'm not posting every day anyway, so you're used to it, haha! 

Work. I'll get to go to work again, which I actually look forward to! I can't wait to do night shifts and talk to people I haven't seen in three months. I'm looking forward to thepub being packed with people and feeling the stress of the beer taps running empty, trying to keep up with the line of people. I don't know what it is, but I love it.

Friends. I'm going to Oslo before going home. In Oslo I'll be staying with Kristine, the girl who came to visit a while ago. We're going to a concert with our favourite band and it'll be a great weekend. I'm looking forward to good food, some wine and discussing world problems like only we can. 

 

Doctor's appointment. I have an appointment with my GP and I'm looking forward to being able to ask my doctor the questions I have about my heart condition and get the info I feel like I need to maybe get my drivers license back a bit early.

Free food. I'm not saying I'm completely broke, because I'm not, but being a responsible adult who pays for her own food and rent and everything is fucking expensive to put it mildly. I've always hear grown ups saying stuff like "god, not again, the price for cheese has got up 30p..." and I've always thought they've been over reacting, but to all you lucky bastards who still live like kings at home with your parents without a care in the world: growing up isn't as great as you think it is. Sure, you get loads of freedom and independence, but the more freedom you get, the more responsibilities you get, so don't think living away from home is a breeze!

My mum's aunt's necklace. I know this might be a silly reason, but my mum's aunt became a sort of proxy-nan for me and my brother when our last grandparent died almost 11 years ago and she ment the world to me. When she died as well, I inherited a necklace she used to wear and I forgot it at home when I want back to England after christmas and I really miss it. I guess you could say that this is proof that family is really, really important to me, but I don't see that as a bad thing. 

Going home - cons

I can't drive. I won't elaborate too much on this point, since I know I keep nagging about this. However, I doubt anyone understands just how much driving means to me. I'm dreading the feeling of being stuck in that tiny little place, not even being able to get to work on my own.

Dad's not home. I haven't seen my dad since I drove him to the boat on the 2nd of January and, being a daddy's girl, I really miss him. I've been trying to email him, but since the new boat he's on doesn't have a very good wifi set up and calling over the satelite phone is really expensive, I haven't talked to him for a while. I feel like I miss him more now that I'm not home, because when I lived with my parents I always saw him until he went away and were always home the day he came back, but it's not like taht anymore and 5 months can easily pass without me seeing my dad and that makes me sad. 

All in all, I am looking forward to going home. I've been sat here for half an hour trying to think of more cons to going home, but I can't think of any. I have to say, the fact that I can't drive probably counts for 3, but I'm still looking forward to Norway, speaking Norwegian, eating Norwegian, seeing my family and going on holiday and all the other stuff. 

I love when I do stuff like this and it turns out I don't really have that much to complain about. After all, there are a lot of people that have is a lot worse than me. I'm lucky, really. 

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...

My weekend

Friday started out by waking up on my own, with no need for an alarm. Friday's lecture starts at 3, so there's every posibility of sleeping in, which is fantastic! When my drag of a lecture was finally over, I headed up to Liva's for a bit. We were supposed to go to town to do some shopping, but I couldn't be bothered, so we didn't. I then went back home to change and tidy my room, since we were doing predrinks for Sharleens birthday and just in case anyone came into my room, it needed a bit of a shine. Which was good, because the entire predrinks ended up in my room. Me, Liva, Sharleen, Rhys and Emma (one of Sharleens friends from Reading) sat in my room, drinking, playing drinking games and laughing. Rhys is one of the guys I'm living with next year and friday was the first time I saw him drunk! He doesn't really drink that much, but he was a laugh when he did!

Oh Rhys, haha! 

Me and Liva then went to Alfies when Sharleen, Emma and Rhys went to Southampton. We had a good night, but I have to say, I miss being able to get drunk! I know that sounds stupid and I know I have to look after my health, but I'm a first year uni student for fucks sake, I should be able to drink! 

Saturday, me and, you guessed it, Liva went to town to shop. We went to poundland to get some stuff that we didn't really need or could afford, and I ended up with three black storage boxes to keep makeup and skin/hair products in, making my room look a lot tidyer! Sounds silly buying stuff to decorate the flat a month and a half before I move out, but I guess it's better late than never! Liva also bought a box of the same kind as well as a pink/white polkadot shower curtain that she was more than satisfied with. You should have seen her face when she was finished putting it up! 

We then made tacos and had a two person pre drinks while getting ready before heading back into town to Alfies. I really like that place, because there's so many people (guys) there that we never get the chance of meeting when hanging out at county arms across the street from me, because that's a student pub so we basically already know everyone there. Alfies also play the most random music imaginable, everything from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and Wonderwall by Oasis to Circle of life from The Lion King. 

Today I haven't really been doing much. When I woke up, I watched a few episodes of Dexter, which is freaking amazing by the way, before actually being bothered to get out of bed. When I finally did start doing something productive, I realised that I lost the ball of one of my helixes at Alfies last night. I have some spare balls, but putting them back on is a struggle with capital S. Not to make things easier for myself, I also decided to change my nose stud to a ring, which wasn't really that much of a hassle, but when I was done with that, I took out the ring in my rook as well. That's always a pain to put back in and I then payed 45 minutes in front of the mirror to put another one back in. 

One arm over the head to support the ring, the other trying to put the ball back on

(or trying to take a picture, what evs).

I spent 45 minutes in this position. Got to love it! 

Nose ring! 

When I was finally done with that, I had breakfast. Mexican, actually. Norwegian mexican mix with Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese on top. Homesick? Not in the slightest. 

When I was finished, I decided to see if I could stretch my ear lobe just a little. It was 2,5mm and I have some plugs that are 3mm, so I put one in and it turned out to work fine! I then changed the pug to a 3mm eyelet, simply because I like eyelets better than plugs when they're this small. Can't wait to get to 00G, there are so many cool plugs to buy for that size! Anyway. I don't know if I've mentioned this earlier or not, but last time I stretched I ripped the earlobe. I didn't realise that the taper I was using was a 4mm and not a 3mm and without knowing it, I tried to stretch directly from 2,5mm to 4mm, and I can tell you, it HURT! It was bleeding and stuff, not good at all! I learned from it though, so from now on I'm always checking that I'm using the right size before trying to shove anything into my earlobes. I guess that is sort of self explanatory, but some of us are clearly a bit slower than the rest.. 

Right. Now I'm heading down to Cyber Italia, my second home, with Liva. She's revising finance math for her test tomorrow and I'm going to try to finish my weekly wiki on hate crime and start the Police and Police work essay which is due on the 24th. Hopefully, I'll get a lot of stuff done so that I can relax at the end of semester, but knowing myself, I don't have high hopes for it. Like my brother says, "procrastinators unite! ... Tomorrow."

Celebrating Hollies birthday!

I've spent most of today outdoors, which was really nice for a change. It's Hollie's 21st birthday today and me, Line, Liva and Amanda wanted to do something fun with her to celebrate. We took food, sweets, cake and soda and had an outdoors picnic!

Before leaving the flat where Line and Hollie lives, we decided that we should do a flower girl theme, so we all borrowed flowery head band thingy's from Hollie and I can safely say it's the first time I've ever walked around in public with anything that even remotely resembles purple flowers on my head. It was really fun though, and here are the pictures that I know you are all just dying to see! 

When we were leaving Queens Road.

Picnic! 

Line and me.

FLOWERPOWER!

Amanda and me! Ignore my face, don't know what I was trying to pull off...

Went to a cosy little pub to have a drink or two after the picnic, which is when this picture and a lot more like it, started being taken. 

My birthday present to Hollie was a home made card with this text in it:

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

You look like a monkey

and you smell like one too! 

I normally wouldn't write stuff like that in a birthday card, but Hollie has a great sense of humour, so I couldn't contain myself. I also gave her some piercings that I'm never going to use and that I thought would come in handy for her. They were obviously never worn and I cleaned them before putting them in zip lock bags, just felt like that should maybe be mentioned. 

Anyway. After I came home, I haven't really been up to much. I hand-knitted an infinity scarf, which was fun, and it actually turned out quite nice as well! I would post a picture, but I've gone to bed and it's way too cold to remove the covers now, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry, I know you're all dying to see what I get up to.. (by the way, I'm often quite sarcastic. Ignore comments like that). It's black, grey and dark blue and took about 45 minutes to make. I won't lie, as I was sitting there, watching the second series of House of Cards and knitting, I couldn't help but wonder if my nan would be proud if she could see me. She would knit 50 pairs of socks each year and were really good at it! I think a lot about family lately. Don't know why, but I do.

I feel like I've been calling home a lot lately as well. I do know the reason for that, though. I'm used to not seeing him that often, but I haven't seen my dad since the 2nd of January. Before that, he was home since just before chrismas, and before that I obviously hadn't seen him since I moved to England. Anyway. I think the reason why I'm calling home so often is that I know I won't see him for a long time still. When I get home for spring break in april, he's at sea. He comes home just after I go back here. I won't see him until late may/start of June. That's 6 months straight without my dad and I can easily say that's the longest I've ever gone without seeing him. It doesn't feel right at all. As I said, I'm used to not seeing him that much during a year, but 6 months straight without seeing my dad when we have as good a relationship as we do, is nothing but hard. Of course, it'll make seeing him in June that much better, and knowing myself, I'm probably going to be trailing him like a dog the first week, just because I miss him. But let's be honest, when a girl hasn't seen the superhero in her life for 6 months, is she not allowed to? I think she is. 

Just so it's been said, I'm not saying that I have it hard, not seeing my dad for 6 months. There's a lot of people who haven't even met one or even both of their parents, who have lost a parent or have a parent in the same situation as me. I'm nothing special, I'm lucky just to have two loving parents who's still together, who work well together, who takes good care of me and gives me whatever I need and want. However, it's still hard not seeing him for ages. The point I'm trying to make is that, no matter how great your life is, no matter how lucky and privileged you are, there's going to be things in your life that's hard, and it's okay to have hard times and you're allowed to miss your dad when you haven't seen him for 6 months, even though you are one of the luckiest children in the world.

Right, got that off my chest! I'm going to sleep now. I have a meeting with Student Services tomorrow and then I have a group meeting thing and then we have a lecture 12-1 and seminar groups 2-3. I think. Busy schedule, but I'm hoping I'll have the time to get some piano playing done in the middle of it all. Haven't played properly for ages and I really miss it! 

I'm probably going to have some trouble sleeping though, seeing as I just went up to 8G on my left earlobe and I have a healing conch piercing in the right ear. Might be a fun night!

Update: Woke up and realised that it wasn't the fact that I went up to 8G that made my ear hurt. It was the fact that I went too fast and managed to rip my earlobe.. Kids, don't rush when stretching!

Stretched ear lobes

I've been thinking about getting another jewelry box just for my tapers, plugs, eyelets and so on. I've got about a million piercing jeweleries already (I'm exaggerating, don't worry mum, I spend my money on food as well, promise), and since I'm going to have to buy bigger jewelry the bigger my earlobe gets (only stretching the left one for now), it will take up more space and I should probably get another box.

This is the box I have now. 

Top row right to left: straight barbells (tongue piercings), blue straight barbells, nose piercings, taper set, plugs+eyelets

Mid row right to left: curved barbells (belly button piercings), curved barbells with decorations, circular barbells, CBR's, labrets, spare labret balls, industrial/scaffolds

Bottom row right to left: locks for 'regular' ear studs, big ear studs, mid sized ear studs, small coloured ear studs, pearl ear studs

In the "stretched ears" department, these are the stretching tools and jewelry I have at the moment:

Taper set, 14G (1,6mm)-00G (8mm). The 10G (2,5mm) taper is 

missing from the picture because I'm using it.

One thing about tapers. They are not jewelry. You're not supposed to walk around with them, you're supposed to use them as a tool to stretch the piercing to become big enough to put a plug or an eyelet through it.

14G (1,6mm) plug.

12G (2,0mm) plug

10G (2,5mm) single flared eyelet. 

Eyelet's are what some people call tunnels. You don't put a tunnel in your ear, you drive through it. The hollow thing you put in your ear is called an eyelet, capiche? 

Two 8G (3,2mm) plugs and a single flared 8G eyelet.

Eyelets can be either single or double flared. You couldn't tell too well on the other picture, but if you look closely on the eyelet in this picture, you can see that it's wider in one end than the other and that the other end has got an O-ring on it. If it was double flared, it would get wider in each end, but you need to have a looser piercing to wear double flared eyelets. 

Single flared 4G (5,1mm) eyelet.

At the moment, the short term plan is to get to 10G (2,5mm), and that's what I'm doing now. I'll have to let it rest for about a week or two before going further to prevent any tearing in the earlobe. (I'll get back to that). My long term plan is to get to 00G (8mm). I'm not sure if I'm going to go bigger once I get to 00G, because it's hard to shrink back to regular size when you go bigger than 00G, and seeing as I'm aspiring to work with crime scene investigation, I'll probably want to have a more professional appearance. At least I know my mum would want me to, haha!

Anyway, back to the original issue. Since I have 21 piercings and therefore need all the other jewelry as well, I'll probably need to buy another box when I've been stretching for a while. I'll be buyng bigger plugs and stuff, and they'll take up a lot of room, so I might as well, right? Luckily, they're not all that expensive, I think I payed £5 for the one I have on Ebay. I get most my piercing jewelry from Ebay, by the way. It's cheap, it's delivered quickly and as long as you stick to metal stuff and don't go wandering into the world of plastics, you will probably not get cancer from the stuff you buy there. 

Right, I'm going to stop procrastinating. I have an assignment due monday and so far all I've done is research and spider charts and whatnot. Have a feeling that sunday night is going to be a long one if I don't get started today.. 

Having a bad day?

We all have bad days. Days when everything goes wrong and you can't seem to do anything right. Those days you when you wished you hadn't gotten out of bed, but had stayed in with a cup of tea, chocolate and a good tv series or a book. However, there's something you can do to improve your mood a little on those days.

Make a crappy day-jar!

Write down the good stuff that happens in your everyday life on little notes and put them in the jar. This way, when a day comes along when you just want to curl up under the covers and eat your weight in chocolate, you can read about how amazing your life is and it'll make everything a little bit better.

Here's some of the things that has made it into my jar.

Kristine was the Norwegian girl that lived in out flat last semester.

Make your own crappy day-jar, I swear, it works! :)

Isn't this just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

These postits were all over the mirror in the girls bathroom in one of the buildings on campus today. They are made and put up by an organisation called Heads Up Winchester, who's working to "encourage positive mental health and promoting the wellbeing services that are available to our students."

Check out their facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/groups/331101693676954/#!/HeadsUpWinchester

My days with Kristine!

I know I haven't been writing a whole lot lately, but I don't have that many readers anyway, so I hope not too many people have been upset.

Anyway! the last few days has been a lot of fun. Kristine and I went to Southampton to shop, we went out drinking (she and Liva drank while I watched haha) and we've been out to eat, a lot. As I've already said (I think), we went to Southampton to shop on wednesday, which were a lot of fun, I think we probably cleared out about a quarter of all the clothes in Primark, haha! We went to Nando's for dinner that day, and if you read this, Sharleen, you are right, Nando's is heaven on earth!

In Southampton I also had my Conch pierced (I think I might have mentioned  this before), but because my phone has decided to act like an idiot, I can't show you a picture, unfortunately.. Some day, when I get a phone that works properly, though!

Wednesday night, we had a quiet night in my room with some girl talk, facials and other stuff. Lots of fun and the sort of thing I wish we had the time to do a bit more often, just hanging out looking horrible together! 

Thursday, we went to my lecture. It was fairly interesting, to be honest. It was about female criminals and how they are treated very differently to male criminals. The bad thing about the lecture was the fact that the lecture room was so hot you could fry an egg on the chairs in there.. Anyway. Afterwards we went home to mine to get ready and go to the pub. Kristine got to meet some of the very, very special people that hang around in there sometimes as well as some of my closest friends. All in all, a good night, I think!

Me and my ginger before hitting the pub! 

We also went to Southampton saturday night for a night out. We started at the Hobbit, a bar that's inspired by the Lord of the Rings. They have 8 pint sized drinks named after characters and such from the movies and it seemed like a really fun place to hang out! I had a Gollum, which was really good! I'll write down the recipe for it in the end of the blog post. We then went wandering around looking for a couple of places that Live had been reccommended, but we couldn't find it and ended up getting the bus to the train station and then we went home to Winchester. Finally back, we headed down to Alfies, one of my favourite pubs in the whole world! We had a lot of fun and I love that Liva, who's one of my best friends in England and Kristine, who is one of my best friends in Norway, went along with each other so well! I love them both to bits and being able to hang out with both at the same time was amazing!

At Alfies, you can buy these wristbands (the pink one was for last semester, the blue one is for this semester) that gives you a lot of great discounts if you show then to the bartender when ordering drinks! I'm collecting them, haha!

From saturday when we went out in Southampton. 

This is the dress I was wearing! Got it at Primark in Southampton, 

think it was £7 or something. 

Yesterday we didn't really do much. We ordered some food for breakfast and then we slept for another 2-3 hours. I was really tired since we had been up all night and Kristine was really hungover, so it took a while before we were able to function properly. However, when we finally did, we went down to Queens to ask Liva if she wanted to hang out and then we went to Wetherspoons to have dinner. They have the most amazing double bacon cheese burger and I know that I'm supposed to be eating healthy and all, but I really needed that! When we finished dinner, we went down to Alfies again just to hang out and wait for the coach that Kristine was getting to Gatwick to get there.

All in all I've had some really great days with some of my favourite people, so I'm very happy at the moment! Really looking forward to visiting Kristine for a few days in Oslo before going home for easter, we are going to see Oslo Ess live at Rockefeller, it's going to be AMAZING! We've been to see them once before and they have jsut come out with a new record, so that's going to be one fantastic night!

Today I've been trying to be a bit productive. I've cleaned my room since two girls in a single room creates a lot of mess. I started taking all my clothes out of my closet to fold them so that they'll be easier to find in there when Liva sent me a message asking if I wanted to go to Cyber Italia with her around half 5-6. I then abandoned the clothes on the floor and went to make dinner. I thought I'd post the recipe for this amazing little dish on here, so that you guys can try it out for yourself, because this is simply too good to keep to myself!

Looks amazing, right? It was! 

Chicken stirfry with mango chutney sause

What you need (2 portions):

Stirfry

1 pack instant noodles, chicken flavour
4-500 g chicken filet
300 g oriental stirfry mix (peppers, onion, sweet corn, bean sprout, sweet peas)

Mango chutney sause

2-3 tbs mango chutney
4 tbs soy sause
2 cloves of garlic
1/5 lime
rosemary
ground cumin

What you do:

• Put on the noodles like it says on the package.
• Dice the chicken filet. When you're done with this, the noodles should be done (especially if meat knife is as dull as mine..)
• Cut up the garlic and mix with mango chutney, soy sause, the juice from the lime and spices in a bowl. Put the vegetables into the bowl as well and mix it all.
• Fry the chicken in two batches in a frying pan until it's brown and crispy. when the chicken is done, put it in a pot.
• Put the vegetable mix and noodles together in the frying pan to mix it and heat it up a bit. When you've done this, if your frying pan is big enough, put the pieces of chicken back into the frying pan to mix with the sause and vegetables. If your frying pan is the same size as mine (too small, that is), put the vegetable/noodle mix into the pot with the chicken to mix it.
• Serve! 

If you want to serve it with a really cool drink, here's how you make a Gollum! 

This is what you need:

Bols blue

Orange juice

Sprite or lemonade

Ice

Here's what you do:

• Put ice in a big glass (pint)
• Pour 2 oz (or as much as you want really) of bols blue into the glass.
• Throw in some orange juice until the drink has a lovely green colour.
• Top it all with lemonade or sprite.
• enjoy! 

Right! I'm heading down to Cyber Italia with Liva in a little while, so I'm going to put my face (mu make up) on and then go do some real work.