Exam day!

Hola chicas y chicos!

It's exam day! I've never ever been this excited for an exam, it's going to be brilliant because I actually know this stuff! We've had the questions for a week now and I can already tell that I'm going to kill this exam.

The first question is "Different communities and identity groups share a varied relationship to the criminal justice system. Discuss this assertion in relation to either gender or race, outlining and evaluating the central issues in relation to crime and criminal justice."

In this question, I plan to focus on gender and write about women in the Criminal Justice system. Women are largely underrepresentated in comparison to men. Less than 1 in 5 people arrested are female and only 5% of prison inmantes are women! Another thing I'm planning to concentrate on is the fact that there is a notion of "double deviance" with women offenders. Women are seen as the care takers of society, who should preferrably be in caring professions like teachers, nurses, midwifes and so on (for my thoughts on this subject, see the last entry, called "I'm a feminist because") and for this reason, when women offend, the general reaction is that we abuse our caring position in society to con and trick people. One of the examples I'm going to refer to is the mothers of Ian Watkins victims. Ian Watkins was the vocalist in the Welsh etal/alternative rock band Lotprophets. He was arrested last year on suspicion of sexual abuse of multiple children. How did Watkins get to these children? In any cases, their mothers offered them to him to have his way with in exchange for sexual favors. In other words, in order to get some attention from this famous rock star, they gave up their children to be sexually mutilated. Horrific? Yes.

The second exam question is "The process of ‘otherisation’ is central to ‘hate crime’; using empirical examples discuss your understanding of these concepts?"

In this question I am going to start off by explaining what 'otherisation' and 'hate crime' is. My definition will be something to this effect: Otherisation is putting others below yourself, seeing a group of fellow human beings as less worthy than yourself because of some common trait they share, such as ethnic origin, skil colour, sexual orientation and the like. Otherisation is the notion of the 'others', it's fear of the unknown. Otherisation drives a wedge between communities that does not allow the members of each group to communicate and leaves the people of the strongest or biggest group to hate the smaller one, the minority in the situation. This can cause hate crimes that has in many cases, caused the death of a minority member. Hate crime is going so far in the otherisation process that you not only express your feeling of loathing and hatred verbally to members of the group, but your feelings drive you to inflict harm upon members of this group that you see as less worthy than yourself without any provocation apart from the fact that they are a member of the group you despise. 

The empirical example I'm going to use is the case of Stephen Lawrence, the 19 year old black man who were killed in a vicious attack while waiting for the bus on the evening of 22nd april 1993. Five men were arrested at the time, but they were all released. It wasn't until 2012 that two people were convicted of the murder. The report made by Sir William Macpherson following the murder of Lawrence investigated the Metropolitan Police Service and concluded that the police force was institutionally racist, and therefore not making too big an effort to solve the case of Lawrence's death. 

I think I've covered the questions quite good, it is a hand written exam and we only have two hours, so I'll have to cram it all into the space and time we're given, but I think I'll get a pretty good mark on this one. I'm really glad we get the questions ahead of the exam. It means, of course, that the marking will be more strict and that getting a really good mark will be more difficult, but it makes me a hell of a lot less nervous because I know what's ahead. Seeing as the modules I've had exams for are the ones I understand the most, I've really been lucky this year. 

So, wish me luck! 

 

Do you want to build a snowman?

Have you seen Frozen? It's the cutest little film ever! I'd seen lots of spoilers on Tumblr before seing the actual film, but I was definitely not disappointed! Lately, meaning the last three days, I've been playing 'Do you want to build a snowman' and 'Let it go' on piano. I love the first one so much because it's funny and sad and cute all at the same time and there's so much to do with it when making a cover version.

Anyway, life hasn't been just piano playing and cute little songs in the past few days. Actually I never play as much piano as the times when there's stuff I feel like I need to get away from, get a break from. I've applied to all the jobs I can think of but there's nobody that needs workers at the moment. I can't get a hold of Registry at the university to find out if I will have to take a gap year and they haven't replied to my email. The thing is, after I wrote the last post, I called Lanekassen, which is the state owned organization that sorts out student finance for Norwegian students, and it turns out that it isn't the year after next I will go without funding, it's the upcoming year. In other words, I have to get the university to understand that I need those three extra modules for next year if they want me as a student at all. If they can't put me on the list for three modules from other courses, then I won't be able to go to uni in September. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a flat that I've signed a contract for.. I'll have to pay rent until we can find someone who can take over my room, which means that I'll have to pay the £5000 in July and not know how much I'll get back.. This also puts some stress on my flatmates and I have that I might have to do this to them.

On top of everything I can't say that the thought of delaying my education a whole year and living at home from the end of may this year to mid September next year is one that makes me happy. I really don't want to move back home, I want to finish my education and start working for real. Not some crappy, dead end job that'll never get me anywhere, but a real job, one that I'll need qualifications for, a job that I'll have worked hard to get. Maybe I'll even have a shot at Scotland yard! I don't want to delay that for a whole year. Then again, I am fully aware that I might have to and that if the school says that this is what the rules are like, that I can't have any more modules than what my course says I can. Still, I'm sure that anyone understands that the thought of working for over a year to make £20,000 to cover tuition and the flat and everything and then pay £10,500 to the school to not even have the normal 8 modules, to lose out on 3 whole modules kind of sucks.

Anyway! Happy thoughts, the war isn't lost yet! At the moment, and I know it sounds strange, but I smell like a garage. My brother and I have just helped my uncle change the tyres on his car. Yes, I know how to do that. I like doing stuff like that, and to be honest, I wish I had the oportunity to do more of it. A point on my bucketlist is definitely to learn how to do an oil change and I swear, I'm going to get my dad to teach me this summer.

About time to go to bed now? Think so. Have a good day (tomorrow)!

Lecture, volunteering, town, monopoly, course change.

Hey!

It's been a long day. Not long as in tiring, but long as in I've had a lot of things to do.

First of all I went to my Introduction to Criminology 2 lecture, which was really good today. We had a guest lecturer that talked about homophobia and how badly the LGBT-community are treated by some people. The guest lecturer were a gay man that works with a programme that gives young people in the LGBT-community the chance to get together in a totally homophobia-free environment, where they can be themselves and get the help and support they need to do whatever they might feel like they need to do, whether it's coming out to friends and family or dealing with homophobic behaviour, whatever it might be. They also help people that has been subjected to hate crimes because of their sexual orientation to report this to the police. The amount of hate crimes that go unreported are ridiculously high, so I think it's brilliant that you can go to this programme to get help and support if you think that reporting such incidents on your own is too difficult.

I think LGBT-rights are an important issue to raise. In the developed world of 2014, are we really that uneducated that we can't see each other for what we are, human beings? If you're straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, pansexual, whatever, you should be able to live your life in a completely normal manner without having to deal with homophobic pricks who think they're just that much better than everyone else. Because I can pretty much guarantee, that the same mens men, the same jocks, the same idiots that go around spreading homophobic bullshit are the same guys who sit at home in their bed at night, watching lesbian porn while jerking off. Tell me I'm wrong, I dare you.

this is why I've decided to start volunteering for this programme that I can not for the life of me remember the name of. This is something I truly care about and it's something that's really important to do something about, so why shouldn't I? At some point during our bachelor degree, we are urged to do volunteer work any way beacuse it looks really good on the CV, so I think that I've hit the jackspot with this!

That was my rant of the day, haha! After the lecture was over, I went into town with Liva to get some stuff. Now I have enough food to last me the rest of the semester and whatever might be left on the 4th of April will be put in the freezer until I return in May. I might actually have bought enough food to not have to buy any in may, but that's probably just as well.

When I came home and had put all my stuff away, I just hung out in my room for a while. I'm one of those people that really need some quiet alone time and I think making sure that I get that hour to myself to do nothing each day is really important. I feel like if I take some time to myself then I'm not that stressed. This might be logical to everyone else, but I've never realised until now that if I get in that one hour each day of just total relaxation, then I can go on like usual the rest of the day. I can stay a yes person if I get in that one hour, and I like being a yes person, I like making people happy, I like helping out and I like the fact that people seem to think that they can come to me if they need something. If one Hannah-hour each day can let me stay that way without my heart deciding that it's suddenly had enough, then that's what I'll do. I mean, I've always enjoyed being alone and I've always made the time to be alone, but I've always done something while alone. I've worked on whatever people have needed me to do. I've kept my phone on in case anyone needs me. I don't do that anymore. Hannah-hour means nobody else but me and it's made a huge difference. I know it sound really cheesy and really lame, but as long as it works, I don't really give a shit.

By the way, I do apologise for the language on this blog. At first I never thought that I would swear in these posts, but then I realised that it's part of who I am, so why not. I'll have a description put in at the top right corner, saying that the blog is rated for language or something, just to be politically correct, though. At some point. (maybe).

After spending some time alone with my thoughts, Sharleen and I went over to flat 28 to play Monopoly with Rhys, Liam, Hannah S and Nye, who we're living with next year. It was the first ever Sparkford Close 20A get together and it was a lot of fun. I think I'm going to enjoy next year a lot!

I also got an email today, saying that I am more than welcome to transfer into the first year of Forensic Studies in September. All I need now is to get the paperwork signed and I'll officially (almost) be a Forensic student! I actually can't wait to get my hands on the case files and equipment that the Forensic people get to use. They actually study real case files with real crime scene photos of real dead people and if that's not freaking awesome, then I don't know what is! I'm really glad I made the choice of changing courses, I think it'll serve me in the long run, even though I have sort of wasted a year doing Criminology. However, it's not completely wasted, I'll still be able to put it on my CV and I'll have somewhat of a unique education when I'm finished, so that's good at least!

 It's now a 3.15am and I have a ton of stuff to get done tomorrow, so I'm going to get to bed! Hope you've all had a good day!

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."

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!

United Blood Nation - did you know?

Cyber Italia again. Feel like I should just bring a pillow and move in here, I'm here so much lately.

I did finish the fictional story yesterday. I also changed a few major details to make it easier to write. I'm sure this isn't even remotely interesting to any of you, but after changing the gang that my main character is in, I found out some stuff about that gang that really blew my mind, so I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

The United Blood Nation, or UBN, is the east coast "branch" of the gang I was talking about yesterday, The Bloods. What really struck me about the gang was something I found out from a History Channel documentary about the bloods. Apparently, in the 90's, the gang was really taking over the gang activity on the east coast, and they became especially big in New York. They identified themselves by wearing red clothing and especially bandanas on their head and around their wrists, obviously making the job really easy for law enforcement to track down the members on the street, but that's not the point. The point is the initiation process you had to go through to become a UBN member. They have a notion that is common for most violent gangs, the idea of "blood in, blood out", usually meaning that to become a member, you have to kill someone, and the only way to get out of the gang was being killed. Once you were in, there was no turning back, essentially. Anyway, the UBN did this initiation process a little different from the typical gangs.

" 5 poppin', 6 droppin' 
Crip, kill it, or my casket drop
5 alive, 6 must die
rest in peace, the OG tie." 

If someone wanted to become part of the UBN, they had to go up to so called "neutrals", meaning a non gang affiliated person and ask "What's poppin'?" As the neutral, if your answer wasn't that little sing song rhyme, you would recieve a "buck fifty". The aspiring gang member had to cut you in the face to the point where you would have to get 150 stitches. The thought behind it was that instead of having their prospects killing a rival gang member for initiation, they would leave the UBN trademark of the buck fifty on the face of a neutral person, for ever reminding them and other members of the general public of the actions of the actions of the UBN.

When I heard this, there were chills running down my back. I mean, it's bad enough killing a rival gang member to be initiated into a life of violent crime, but that rival gang member had probably done the same at some point and would in my eyes be more "deserving" of the fate than a peaceful law abiding citizen that just didn't know enough about the gang to be aware that remembering four lines of gangster rhymes would keep them from being dismembered for life.

At some point, I might post the story I wrote on the blog, but since I haven't handed the essay in yet, I can't do it now. The university check the assignments we write against the internet to find out if the piece we've handed in is plaguarized (not sure that's how you spell plaguarized. Plagurised. Plaguariced. I don't know).

Anyway! I have 800 words left on the assignment and then I can go home! Looking forward to it already. I have lectures at 9AM tomorrow and really hope I'll be able to get a descent amount of sleep before that. 6 hours of lectures is pain when you're sleep deprived!

Update: I should probably also mention the meaning of that rhyme I was talking about. The Crips are the main rival gang of both the UBN on the east coast and The Bloods on the west coast. The Bloods and the UBN identified them selves with five pointed stars when they graffitied their gang name on the city walls. The Crips used a six point star. This is why the UBN wanted you to reply "5 poppin, 6 droppin" and "5 alive, 6 must die".

The Bloods, The Crips, Cyber Italia.

At the moment I'm in Cyber Italia down on campus. It's this pizza restaurant with loads of computers where you can do your course work. It's really convenient, because it's open 24/7, so no matter how much you're procrastinated before starting your essay, you can come down here and actually have to be quiet and do your work. Or write a blog post, what ever.

The essay I'm writing is for the module called Portrayals of Crime and Deviance. It's not that difficult, but the first half is supposed to be a fictional story and since I haven't written a fictional story since year 10, which is four years ago (I feel really old now by the way), it's taking me for ever to write. The story is supposed to incorporate all the things we've learned about in lectures, like for instance the language of crime, the relationship between criminals and law enforcement and depictions of organised crime. In other words, the story has to show how criminals, especially criminals with history of gang crime and other forms of organised crime. I have to show the relationships between the gang members in one gang, the relationships between gang members from different gangs and the relationship between gang members and law enforcement. It's harder than it sounds, but now that I've done a bit of pre work, like writing a background for each character and deciding to use the location, name and criminal history of real gangs to limit the amount of information I actually have to torture my imagination to come up with, it all became a lot easier. Maybe I'll post the story on the blog when I've finished it?

The gangs I've chosen to work with are the San Francisco gangs, The Bloods and The Crips. Apparently, after a quick google search, they are rivals. Which is perfect, because the older brother of Chris, the main character in my story, was killed by a rival gang member. The start of the story is the dialogue between Chris and the police detective that brought him in for questioning after a 16 year old girl had been killed when she tried to run away without paying her drug dealers. So far, so nearly good. Meaning I've already finished that part. Later on, I was thinking I could do a time jump to talk about when Chris' older brother was killed and then go to the conversation between Chris and the gang leader, who hasn't got a name yet, to show the relationship between the gang members of the same gang. The gang leader tells Chris that The Bloods wasn't running any drug deals that night because their shipment didn't come through, so they were out of stock, and go on to say that it must have been a member of the rival gang, The Crips, that was dealing on their turf that night, trying to infringe The Bloods. Don't know how well it'll turn out when I can only use 1250 words, but time will tell!

I think that's enough procrastination for now, hopefully I'll get this done tonight. Deadline is on monday, and I can't be bothered doing an all nighter tomorrow..

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

A long day that turned out not to be so long after all.

That might have been the blog post title of the year, haha!

I was finally able to sleep around half 5 last night. I had to get up at 8 to get ready for lectures.. 2,5 hours of sleep should be enough, right? I put on the baggiest pair of sweats I own, a big jumper and a scarf, put some makeup on random places on my face and concidered myself ready for 6 hours of lectures.

On my way to the first lecture, I stopped by the italian cafè on campus to buy their entire stock of energy drinks and realised that my visa card was in my other purse. I had enough coins for one energy drink and so I bought that and went to the first lecture.

When I had downed half the energy drink, my heart started beating like crazy and I realised that in the lack og sleep and motivation this morning, I forgot to take my heart medication. Fleeting images of me lying on the floor with students and lecturers and paramedics all around came floating to the surface of my brain and I could definitely feel the stress level rising. However, midway through the first lecture, half the class started laughing and talking and it turned out that the professor in the second lecture was feeling sick so the lecture had been cancelled! the lecture I was in finished at 11, so I walked with another Norwegian girl back up to my flat to get the medication. I'll tell you, that hill has never ever been that hard to walk!

Later on, we're doing a flat dinner with this girl that used to live here last semester. She's Norwegian as well and it'll be nice to see her again!

By the way, people reading this who understand Norwegian! Oslo Ess has just released a new record, check it out on Spotify or Wimp. It's called 'Alle hjerter deler seg' and is really worth your time!

Going out into the storm

The weather outside is really bad. It's a lot like it is at home sometimes, which isn't exactly normal over here. The trees are bending in the wind and the rain is coming down in buckets, and what do we do on nights like these? We shove aside the fact that we have a cold and should stay in bed, and go out! I know I should probably stay in bed with a cup of tea tonight, but going out with friends, having a good time is a lot more tempting, so that's the plan!

Yesterday, I started the process of changing uni courses. I really enjoy studying Criminology and I wihs I could continue with it, but I'm scared I won't be able to get the job that I want with a BA in Criminology and an MA in forensic science, so in september I'm either transferring to 2nd year Forensics or I'm starting over to do a full BA in foresics. I'm really excited about it because forensic science is something that has fascinated me for years, and I hope that when I've made the change, I'll be happy with it and that with a lot of hard work towards my degree to get the best grade possible, I'll be able to get the job that I want. I'm not quite sure where I'm aspiring to end up yet, if I want to stay in the UK and work for New Scotland Yard or if I want to go back to Norway and work for Kripos, but there's a lot of time left to decide that.

A few days ago, I spontaneously ordered a stretcher set on Ebay. I'm not going big, just a few millimeters, but I'm really excited about it! I got the set today and was really surprised that I could go straing to the 2mm taper without having to put in the 1,6mm for a few days first, like you usually do. However, the labrets I've beeen using for a while is 1,5mm, so I guess I wouldn't have been that surprised if I'd given it some thought. What annoys me, though, is that I also bought some plugs to use between stretching periods, and they are 1,6mm, 2mm and 3mm and since the 1,6mm taper is too small, I won't be able to use the 1,6mm plugs at all.. I also bought a really cool marble taper, but that's 1,6mm as well... Oh well, first world problems, eh?

The 30 day challenge is giving me issues at this point. The sets yesterday were really tough and especially the squats and abs challenges are getting a bit much to handle and I sort of wish I had done them one at a time. Still though, I can handle it. We're talking about devoting 15-20 minutes each day to be in a bit of pain to get stronger, and that's not that bad. After all, I've only been at it for 10 days, giving up now would be nothing short of embarassing. It's all about will power, and there's no lack of will power in my mind.

I'm off to take a shower and then I'm going out with a bunch of Norwegian people! The weather will be a challenge, but at least I won't be drunk and make stupid decisions, so that's good at least! Maybe I'll put a picture or two on here from tonight, when I blog tomorrow :)

Are you kidding?

I was walking to lectures, and for some reason, the skies decided that I needed a combined shower and blowdry.
I had my umbrella, but I swear to Thor (I'm not christian, so norse mythology will have to do), I might as well have been carrying an open water bottle up side down over my head.
The umbrella broke from the wind, so I put it in my bag. Not the best idea I've had, seeing as it was dripping wet and I had all my stuff for the lecture in that bag, so when I got to my lecture, my clothes were wet, my bag was wet, the inside of my bag was wet and so on, you get the point.
Aaaanyway, the lecture is quite interesting, we're talking about crime and corruption in the global south. Did you know that over 50% of Afghanistan's BNP comes from illicit drug trafficing?
Hopefully, the weather will have calmed down when I'm walking back to the flat later, or I'm scared I might drown..
-Hannah