Hello everyone!!!

This is going to be a very short post, and I'm just going to sum up my week: it went something like this and didn't really get much better. I'll have a proper post next week.

Titulo Por Favor

Um, guys, we need still need a title. I have no ideas, but thought that I should bring the subject up.

Lent = short.

MarwaBruce: Welcome! \o/ I would love to try all of those things but my day is full at the moment. (<-How Professional )

Alda: I like your mermaid painting. Your style is very interesting. How was your Bollywood party?

I didn't get the internship that I was gunning for, so I'm a bit disappointed about that, but let's not talk about that. I have a new interest.

I have been really into a show called Storage Wars. I've stayed up past my bed time to watch it. I can't get enough of this show. It's on A&E and it's about these guys that bid on abandoned storage units. They get whatever is inside the unit and hope that they can make more money off of what's inside it than what they paid for it. One of the, Dave, always bids people up. He's such a competitor. One of the guys is only looking for one unique item and just throws the rest away and he's so frustrating. My favorite guy is Darrel. He's pitched as "the gambler" and always finds the neatest things. There's Jarred and his wife and they run a thrift store and I like them second best. I'm really getting into these collector shows.

Watching Royal Pains and being a lazy fat walrus tonight. I love my life.
And hello Bruce! How's life? Welcome.

Angelina Jolie, he! I don't like drawing symmetric drawings.

I want to be somewhere hot, on a beach with a cocktail. The snow is melting, which is great. Icelanders talk about the weather a lot. That is very uninteresting, but honestly, it changes every 5 minutes or so! Enough of weather, who gives a crap about the weather?

If you haven't signed this petition, you should, because this is the most disgusting thing I've ever read.

click here

"Thembi (name changed) was pulled from a taxi near her home, beaten and raped by a man who crowed that he was ‘curing’ her of her lesbianism." - this happens. This really happens, now in 2011. I just can barely believe (coming from a very secure environment, haha, innocent me) this kind of prejudice really is out there.

A mermaid I did... watercolor and indian ink :)

Bollywood party tomorrow night, my last day of drinking until 24th of May, which is my last exam, oral English.

Going to work on an essay for an essay contest. I think I'll just write a short story. Probably something depressing and sarcastic, 'cause that's the way I roll.

Fun, fun, fun, fun, looking forward to the weekend.

Goodnight!

This isn't Marwa!?!?

ITS WEDNESDAY

Hey, everybody it’s Wednesday…

And Marwa could not be bothered to post anything here, as she is lazy.

“Wait a second, if this isn’t Marwa then who is this???”

This would be the first ever G-blog secret sibling. I suppose that I am the Maureen to Marwa’s

John. I’m Marwa’s friend, Bruce. [Insert funny Finding Nemo joke here.]

Really though, Marwa’s laziness has helped in one way, because this blog’s male members have

been afk for a while. And I suppose if she had to pick someone to fill in, it’s a good thing she picked me,

since I am both a nerdfighter and someone who has been reading this blog.

“OK cool, so you are a nerdfighter. What do you actually plan on talking about??”

Well, first I’d like to say that I enjoy this blog, and think its neat that people from all over the

world can get together online and talk about snow and college in Iceland or monsoons in Arizona. It’s

neat how the internet can actually be used to learn about other cultures [or even just in other places in

the same nation] in a similar way to field studies conducted by actual anthropologists.

So, what can I talk about? Well, for starters I am studying physics and astronomy, so I’m really

interested in science stuff, particularly physics-based science. So, I want to recommend a series of

music videos that you all should watch. Go to Youtube, and watch the Symphony of Science music

videos. Basically, they are bits and pieces of different scientists work, auto-tuned, and set to music.

They are wonderful videos that anyone can enjoy. You don’t need to know physics or biology to love

the videos.

Since I recommended music, why not branch into other subjects too? I really recommend

people try out League of Legends, as Marwa said earlier. It’s a free [free to download, play and use

most things: only some things require the input of actual money and none of that content is necessary]

online game that we have tons of fun playing with our friends.

Additionally, if any of you are fans of the mystery or suspense genres, I recommend reading

Michael Connelly. Know that some of what he writes may be considered “mature” subject matter, as his

novels are crime novels. But his books are riveting and keep me on edge so often.

Well it’s been really fun filling in for Marwa, and maybe I’ll fill in again if she gets lazy. Which, knowing

her, probably means I’ll be talking to you all again soon. Sorry I didn’t have a whole lot of cool things to

say today.

Best Wishes!

Good Evening G-bloggers, It's Monday

And it's still Lent so I'm keeping this short. The boys are still MIA. What's up with that?

A storm's a commin'!

(Pic taken outside my 3:30 class' building)

We're about due for a monsoon anyway. Where I come from, southern Arizona, rain comes in seasonally as monsoons, which are violent storms, or as remnants of storms from Mexico or California, which are gentler and brief. Something funny is that I didn't know that long thunder storms weren't the norm until a non-local friend of mine warned a non-local friend of his about it. Apparently in most places rain normally just falls down without all the extras. Who knew? I find that other people who grew up in the Southwestern deserts of the US really love the rain. When I was in grade school my classmates and I would always get excited when it rained. My teachers used to open the doors so that we could watch it fall, hear it, and smell it. It's a rare event and a luxury, so I enjoy the monsoons every year (as long as I'm not out in it). Much respect for the water harvest. :)

Appropriate title

I have to pee.

HELLO GIRLS!!1 (who wants to kick the guys' asses?)

Since when does time go this fast? It's 3 weeks till my big exams. All 14 of them (seriously, yes, 14 freaking exams). I'm not prepared for this, I'm very very very nervous. I feel like it's still January! Maybe it's because of the snow, what do we have to do with snow in late-March! I don't think it's supposed to be snow now, even in Iceland. 

I'm looking forward to this summer, can't wait to finish school and go into the summer, carefree and well, lots of partying! I have to make up for last summer, which was awesome but I had both the worst times of my life and also some awesome moments, so I'll make summer 2011 the best summer ever. 

Banksy piece, I think he's the most inspiring artist I've looked at so far. Love his works.

Also, what has been up is university-introduction. I've decided what I'm going to take, I'm going to try to get into Myndlistaskólinn í Reykjavík (Reykjavik School of Visual Art) into a program that's working with CCP, the company that does EVE online (the game) and more so I'd be learning animation and more. I'm not sure I have a shot in getting in but since I'm drawing/painting every day of 2011 I'll hopefully be pretty good by the time I apply for this (which isn't until 2012 since I'm taking a year off). 

What I'm working on right now.

So, if I don't get in which is very likely because they have so few spots and I'm not really good (enough) compared to the people who are applying (believe me, I've seen their works), *cross fingers*. I have a backup plan; I'll go study Spanish in University of Iceland and go to either Spain or South America to finish my studies on second or third year, I'll also take either Icelandic sign language or translating with it and probably get a teaching licence with it. 

Have a nice weekend,

your Alda.

Alanna's birthday story

Hello all!

This Friday is my friend Alanna's birthday, and today we had dinner to celebrate. All told there were six of us, and we decided that while we waited for our food we would pass around a paper, each person adding to it, and write a story. And the story was just too awesome to keep to myself, so here it is:

It all began with pickle juice. Pickle juice, and of course alcohol, mixed with a rooster's teeth, made with grandmother's love. Little red riding hood went to the circus to find this magical pickle juice. Suddenly, the band of adorable girl scouts piled out of a clown car, each holding a bottle of this mystical brew. Red gazed at the pink, opalescent liquid, thinking about its chemical properties. Then, Ninjas, thousands of them, descended from the sky in a heavenly glow to the sound of the Ride of Valkyries. As ninjas descended upon her, Red thought fast and threw her American flag boomerang into the storm, flooring them all. However, amidst all this commotion the band of adorable girl scouts managed to avoid being splattered by pickle juice and dove into battle with small weapons raised. But alas, their chainsaws shattered and giant bears entered the fray, but these weren't just ANY bears, they were TEDDY bears. GUMMY teddy bears of DOOM.all were, of course, named Tibbers. The Tibberses reigned in fury and rushed at Red Riding Hood. Dazed and confused, Red decided to reveal her true identity- Alanna! And she said, "Have you seen my bear Tibbers?" The Tibberses, realizing they stood in the presence of their queen, bowed down before her. And everyone lived happily under Queen Alanna. ^-^

THE END

In other news, some of my friends are singing their own version of “Don’t stop believing.” Only theirs is an ode to our friend troy, and goes:

“Just a small town Troy,

Born and raised in south DeTroy,

He took a midnight Troy going anyTroy…”

Yeah, I’m confused too…

Lent and Other Such Nonsense

Hello everyone (or just the ladies? Seriously fellas, where did you go? Blink twice if you're alive).

First, you need to know that I have given up internet use outside of school/internship purposes for Lent. Alda's Icelandic traditions last week are well timed. We call the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (which is the start of Lent) Fat Tuesday for much the same reason as you call it "sprengidagur". :P I would have loved to have bolludagur. It looks like a cream puff. yum.

Anyway, I have given up the interwebs for Lent. I gave it up in order to strengthen my relationships and better hold my commitments. Today is my first day of spring break and I've been doing a lot of Spring cleaning with a lack of anything else to do. I have decided, however, that I will continue to add to this blog during Lent. Not contributing to it is counterproductive to both of the reasons I gave it up. But expect my posts to be short. I'm not keen on spending too much time on here. I'll read all of your posts on Friday to minimize my time online.

In case you didn't know, Lent, as I've known it, is a Catholic practice of sacrifice or "fast" in order to better understand the suffering of Jesus and get closer to God. I am not Catholic, but my mother is and I've given something up for Lent since before I knew how to recognize religious practice. I think that it's healthy practice and I choose to participate. I do eat meat on Fridays unless the mood gets me. It was a lot easier to avoid eating meat when I was in Catholic school, but I never really cared for the tradition.

I enjoyed reading about Iceland! I'll tell you about the place I'm from some time in the future. For now, here's a picture of the sunset, taken from above the unimpressive parking lot of my apartment building.

week 2

Helloo, only 2 blogs this week (3 now)? What the heck? :(

Today I'm going to talk about myself and my country (wooho!). Since I figured you probably don't know a lot about Iceland. One fact, we are only 300.000 inhabitants here, I think about 200.000 in Reykjavík, the capital. You probably won't find any Icelander under 60 that doesn't speak English.

Anyway! This week's been kind of crazy. Yesterday I had a dance, the oldest students (we who finish this spring) at my school were only invited. I went with my friends to a restaurant, then we danced, we danced waltz, polka, merengue and more dances. It was a lot of fun (even for me who doesn't really like dancing) and we went partying afterwards. Wearing 13 cm (5.12 inches?) high heels for 9 hours, DANCING... my feet are complaining now, I can feel that I'm going to get blisters under all of my toes and on other places too. I honestly can feel my veins pumping in my toes. I'm also a bit hungover right now, but it's all worth it because I had a blast.

(< my friend and I)

March! We love March. In Iceland March is the month when men grow a mustache to raise cancer awareness. This has been a huge success this year and last year, both raising a lot of money and awareness. 

 me and the reason I can't walk and am like a stranded whale right now on the lazy boy! Holy shit, my feet hurt. >

This week has also been full of traditions. Monday was "bolludagur" which means... wow, my vocabulary just vanished from my head. Here's a picture! Nomnomnom. Here's a photo of one cute... whatsitsname?

So, Tuesday was sprengidagur, which means "bursting day," because the tradition is that you eat so much you're about to burst. It's because this is before the lent in christian tradition.

Wednesday was öskudagur, "ash Wednesday" which is similar to Halloween. It used to be a great Nordic tradition where kids put "öskupokar" or "ashbags" on other people (while they're not looking) but now it's just "halloween 2" where kids go to stores in costumes and companies and sing for candy. 

I really have to go now, but I'm so afraid I'll get my car stuck on the way but I really can't walk because my feet are ALL blistery (/whining). (uptate: I managed to drive my tiny Nissan Note car out of the parking lot, but I decided to park at my neighbour's lot when I came back, because big jeeps seem to have a problem getting in and out of the parking lot)

Japan is on my mind today. My heart hurts so much when I read news like this. 

All my thoughts to everyone connected to this horrible nature disaster and most of all to everybody living there. <3

PS. I'm not that good at blogging about these kind of things, I usually write about personal problems, aches and usually something too personal which I don't know if is appropriate in this blog amongst your Super-Mario-Lord-of-the-Rings themed blogs.

PS2!! I'm going to sew a Frodo (LOTR) costume tomorrow. My class is dressing up as LOTR on the 12th of April, you'll get photos then. I'm Frodo (EXCITEMENT!).

How to make sure your saliva sample isn't gross

So what’s up everyone? What was that? It isn’t Wednesday? Shut up, yes it is. Anyway. It is spring break, and I have thus far spent the week doing absolutely nothing. This suits me very well. But since I have nothing cool to write about (not that I ever really do) I am going to give you, dear reader, a few hints. Some pro advice for life, if you will, that I learned over the course of the first half of my break.

Tip #1: gray and blue striped shirt + brown pants = not a good idea generally (I’m looking at you Yusuf)

Tip #2: play league of legends. It’s a good idea, promise.

Tip #3: chocolate cheerios > regular cheerios

Tip #4: if you are going to give a saliva sample for a study, bear in mind that there are people who will have to handle that sample. So a half hour before, brush your teeth and floss. Then refrain from eating, smoking, chewing tobacco, or otherwise engaging in behavior that will make your sample gross and make me want to throw up.

Tip #5: it is perfectly acceptable to sleep for 14 hours a day. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

Tip #6: 7 year olds are annoying

Tip #7: watching all the lord of the rings movies in one day just won’t happen. No matter how much you want it to.

And that’s basically it. Yeah, I just woke up and this is probably the stupidest post ever, I know. Now I have to go deal with one of the aforementioned annoying 7 year olds.

Falling To Pieces

First, general response. The world of Mario is a kill of be killed kind of world. If he doesn't kill them they will kill him. The Mushroom Kingdom is stuck in a cycle of violence. Was surviving on a box of lemon cream filled Girl Scout cookies before I went shopping this weekend and thought of Marwa. I'm an Assassin's Creed girl myself. Well done on the Harry Potter metaphor. Always a good time for one of those. Funny you should mention pizza. Lately I've been eating white pizza (it's free at my club meeting) which is basically a sauceless pizza with mozzarella and feta, New York style. I'm a cheese pizza type girl. Though I do like sausage pizza quite a bit.

OK, are you ready for some pictures? I think you're ready for some pictures. Here we go. This is what my week was like:

It started off with a bridal shower for an old friend of mine. There was much rushing and last minute gift finding and surprise! snow. That's her in the tiara. *Stress Level: 3


And then God said "let there be midterms" and there were midterms and he was well pleased, but I was panicking. So many things went wrong. No picture for this. Just no. But we can have a moment of silence (which apparently translates into a spot of blankness).

Stress Level: 10

After midterms I was still reeling because I have an online class that I didn't have access to in the first couple months of the semester and now have to do all of the work in a month. And not to mention finding an internship before the deadlines run out. Stress Lever: 10+

And then there was Thursday. Started off pleasant with talking to a guy I'd met at a bar on a previous occasion. Then moved onto my Economic Society Meeting which is great networking, but discouraging because it's economics. Just thank goodness our government can print its own money.


The meeting however made me late for my week-long dinner plans for my friends birthday, but she forgave me because she's a peach. Her birthday didn't exist this year (leap year) so she's technically 5 years old, but she's actually 23. We went to Cold Stone after dinner and apparently you get to mix your own ice cream if it's your birthday! It was kind of the coolest thing ever. Stress Level: 1


Saturday was a lot of sleeping. Still jet lagged from midterms. Sunday was Moda. Moda is a charity fashion show held by the Southern Arizona Aids Foundation. I go to it every year because my mother is on the board. The kind of Nerdfighter I am is the world-suck alleviating kind. Charities, I've done them. It's always a lot of fun and some of the stories are heartbreaking. HIV and AIDS in the US has not decreased over time. There is still a steady number of cases and there is still a stigma against it. The fashion show is really great fun with lots of skin, crazy hair, drag queens, and a fashion contest. The bottom picture is the contest. Stress Level: 2 (for fabulosity)

Now I get to the part of the post where I tell you why I told you about my mundane life life this past week (and it's not just so that I could practice posting pictures ). It was tough getting through those high stress times, but I made it through them with not a single break down. Was it strong character? Was it apathy? Was I completely prepared for everything coming at me? It was none of those. It was, on that Sunday of my friend's bridal shower, that I received a box of Reese's Pieces as a prize for a game. I ate my spoils gleefully. As I worried about the oncoming week of stress I looked at my trash bin and saw this:



That was it. A trivial note that someone wrote to fit with the theme of a soon to be bride. It may or may not have been the ancient wisdom passed down to trash bins through the ages. All that matters, though, is that it was exactly what I needed to hear. So that stupid little box of candy is my favorite thing this week. Timing really is everything. The rest of you seemed busy and a little out of it yourselves last week. So DFTBA and Don't Fall to Pieces.

*Stress Level is set to a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest level of stress and 1 being the lowest.

may

Karena, I'd love to talk more about south America and food. Yummi. I'm waiting for my homemade pizza, it's in the owen!

Bakari, I really enjoyed reading your mushroom theory! Speaking of Super Mario, guess what, I've got a 1-up tattoo. Love Mario.

Marwa, I don't think we have girl scouts in Iceland, only scouts. I've always wanted to try the girl scout cookies, they always seem so delicious in the movies, ha!

Reilly, I hadn't thought of it from this point of view! That's interesting.

I'm happy. I love Fridays even though this one has been exhausting so far. I drove through almost all parts of Reykjavík, getting my dad's car and shuttling his keys over town, then go back to the other part of the town (city?) to go to a store before it closed down.

I bought watercolors, watercolor paper and indian ink sooo we'll know what I'm doing tonight. Party tomorrow though! I honestly have nothing intelligent to say right now, my brain has shut down since it's Friday, after eight. Fuck, I'm tired.

What do you like your pizzas? I think I need to shake things up, I always get the same thing: pineapple and cream cheese.

Honestly, my brain has shut down, I can't write anything. 

I might be more creative tonight and add something.

Sorry for a crappy post :(.

Hello all,
somewhat short post today seeing as I must go to the recording studio later tonight.

First off: Wonderful posts everyone, I especially loved the politics of the Mushroom Kingdom presented by Bakari.

So today I will take a similar route and write about the obvious connections between the Harry Potter series and World War 2.  Feel free to add things, or correct me.

First of all, before the war:  So at the end of WW I the treaty of Versailles was signed, and so Germany was screwed over by their own actions because of united countries and their supporters were forced to give up.  Just as how when Voldemort "died" the first time, at the hands of Harry, who represents basically every other rational country ever, the Death Eaters are fallen, and screwed over, so they go into hiding. 

Next, the Death Eaters wait in solitude, which is the big difference between them and Nazi Germany.  While the Death Eaters waited on call for Voldemort's triumphant return, Hitler rose to power, and gave Germans a sense of importance, honor, and valor. 

And so, once both parties Death Eaters and Nazi's had their respective charming, harrowing leaders (Hitler, Voldemort) they slowly rose to power.  With the intention of wiping out or enslaving all people with Jewish, or Muggle, in the past 2 generations in their bloodline.  The Nazi's had a chart:

The Death Eaters likely had one like that, just replace "Jew" with "Non-magical."

So, in German, the titles mean (basically) from left to right like this:
Loyal Dutch
Mixed Blood (Grade 2)
Mixed Blood (Grade 1)
Jew
Jew


The Last two mean the same thing but have different bloodlines, the first having 3 Jews in their blood and 1 Mixed Blood.  The Nazi's had the same twisted and warped idea of "tainted blood" that the Death Eaters had.

And along with the Death Eaters infiltrating and taking over the Ministry, and that paralleling with Germany being ruled by a Nazi, sums up my comparison.  I hope it was interesting.

Bye!

some shameless advertising, and an awesome new book

Hello everyone! Your friendly neighborhood sleep-deprived college student here, reporting from the depths of midterm week. And because it is midterm week, I’m going to talk about something completely unrelated to school right now. Sound good? Instead we will talk about a few things that mattered to me this week.

First of all, Girl Scouts cookies and why you should buy them. They are delicious, overpriced, and quite possibly cocaine-laced. Yes, don’t think that we are unaware of their addictive qualities. You think you have it bad? Try living with cases of the things in your living room, just calling your name. But the point here is not the cookies. The point is that you should really consider buying some. Yes, I know they’re overpriced. I even mentioned it above. But here’s the thing: most of the activities we do as a troop, and that a lot of troops do, are not free. And even when they are, there are still expenses to be paid. And the reason that the cookies cost more than you’d expect is that part of the price goes to the troop. That money allows girls in our troop who can’t afford the trips go. It pays for food on our camping trips and art supplies for our girls to use. It pays for baking supplies that we use to make cookies to take to our local women’s shelter. It goes to buying a robot building kit so our troop can participate in the local robotics competition for kids, getting girls involved in engineering and technology where women are underrepresented. So think about buying a box. Believe me, it’s for a good cause.

Now that my shameless advertising has been taken care of, a slightly (very) more interesting topic: The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss was released yesterday. It is a sequel to one of my absolute favorite books, The Name of the Wind. If you have not heard of it, a) you are dead to me and b) get thee to a library immediately. I’m just kidding about the dead to me thing of course, but part b is totally serious guys. The story itself is not what I love about this book, though it is fast paced and interesting. But the main thing that makes me heart this book so hard is the narrator’s voice. As you read, you know exactly who he is. He has genuine personality. Now, I haven’t read the sequel yet, so I can’t say whether or not it’s worth reading, but the release date was supposed to be like two years ago, so this had better be good.

And lastly, some pro nerd advice: if you like video games (and if you are a nerd, chances are you do) play league of legends. It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s a marvelous way to procrastinate during midterms. And with that I bid you all a fond farewell and return to the misery embodied that is midterms. DFTBA!

Some Mushrooms for Thought

I'm not talking about hallucinogens! But I'll get into that in a sec.

People always pronounce my name Buh-KAH-ree for some reason. I guess that's how it works with English phonics. Glad we've set this straight!

Now there has been a lot of talk of revolution buzzing about and I thought I'd shed some light on another little revolution going on, while it's the hot topic.
I've been having this discussion with my little brother for quite a while now and I'd like to know what you all think. Now we're all familiar with Super Mario Brothers, right? Little pudgy plumber pulverizes opponents by pouncing onto their skulls to save his beloved Princess Peach from her perilous position in the palace of the pernicious patriarch Bowser. (F yeah, alliteration!) Well, one of the most common enemies in the series is this little guy:

He's a diminutive fellow, but he's got heart, damn it. Still, Mario stomps them by the baker's dozen without a single thought. As well he should! They're evil, right?

Well it's not hard to see that the Goomba is a mushroom person, much like the Toads that Princess Peach rules over. A different type of mushroom, but mushrooms the same! In fact, a lot of the dialog in later games suggests that originally, the Goombas and the Toads lived together in the same kingdom under the same ruler. In fact, there are still several good, honest, hard-working Goombas living peacefully in Mushroom Kingdom today. Some of them even help out Mario on his quests. But still, the vast majority of the Goombas you see in the Mario games are stupid, uneducated ruffians that attack you on sight. Like little shitake thugs! Many of them actually aren't even Bowser's minions. At least fifty percent of the Goombas you encounter in later Mario games are simply highwaymen, bandits, and mobsters. Little shitake thugs!

Now, anyone who's taken a (good) sociology class knows that people don't just DECIDE to break the law. We are all products of our environment. The Toads all live in nice, pristine cities with elaborate houses while the Goombas are stuck living underground or in run-down, rural villages. If you were a member of the latter, wouldn't you get kind of fed up with that?

It's easy to see why though. Mushroom Kingdom is governed solely by the Toads (and Princess Peach...where she falls in that line I'm not quite sure...) and Goombas have no say in the affairs of their own country. It's not hard to imagine why they'd get the short end of the stick.

All this time we've seen this whole situation from Mario's perspective. "That nasty ol' Bowser kidnapped the princess! I've gotta go save her for justice, love and peace!" Clearly things aren't quite so simple.

So to you, fellow nerdfighters, I leave this for you to ponder on your own. Sure, Bowser is the king of a rival nation (the Koopa Kingdom) but for the Goombas this is so much more than simply a game of keep-away. 

So next time you see one of the little brown troopers and hop up to remove him from the mortal coil, think for a little bit. Maybe these things aren't so black and white.

DFTBA!