Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The fifteen minutes of fame...
I just got a phonecall from the State run radio station RUV, they wanted to interview me about my dissertation. Questions like: "Now you have been writing about this topic for a year and a half...why the heck haven't you finished yet?" and "Why has the state been supporting your silly dissertation?"
OK, so they weren't asking me these questions but rather were genuinly interested in my topic, it's HOT (and why shouldn't it be, it's a friggin' volcanic eruption--they are always hot). So they wanted me to speak on the radio about my diss, but being the perfectionist that I am, I decided that I wasn't ready for such things. I am also terrified of being ridiculed, other scholars sighing and saying: "This girl's a clueless moron who's gotten it all wrong!"
So, I missed my fifteen minutes of fame, but offered the reporter an exclusive in March 2007 when my conclusion has been completed and I actually know what I want to say...
Besides, I seriously need to get the academic terms right you know, I've been writing about this in English and just talking to the reporter guy on the phone made me stutter cuz I couldn't remember simple Icelandic words for terms like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome..
Jeez, need to re-learn my own mother's tounge...
Friday, November 24, 2006
Plebeians of the world unite
Long time, no write. I apologize for this my dear readers. I think it must the massive amounts of snow that have caused this period of procrastination.I must admit that I have also been doing a wee bit of soul searching lately. You see, I have been looking for the Plebeian in me. For those who are not Icelandic this term may need explaining. On my rock we use the Roman term “Plebeian” (the short version is Plebbi) for people who are according to my English dictionary “lower middle class person, petty bourgeois”.
These individuals can be identified by the following: 1) Eerily orange skin tone from excessive tanning salon sessions or attack of the horrid tanning towels. 2) Extreme highlights in hair, like a birdie with diarrhoea had done its deed on top of the head (men). Extremely bleached hair (women). 3) Swollen body from exercising with six-pack from head to toe (men). Stick like body from the low-carb diet (women).
Alas, after looking everywhere for the Plebbi in me, I have come up empty-handed. I am just going to have to try to accept the fact that Plebeiism skipped a generation this time…
And here’s the reason for these wonderings: I was watching telly last night and stumbled upon a live broadcast from the competition “Mr. Iceland 2006”. It was seriously an overdose of Plebbiness, the young lads prancing around in skimpy shorts just looked like buff carrots to me saying things like: “Hi, I’m Óli and I come from Nowhereville and I’m HOT, vote Óli, vote Óli..”. Watching this I got a silly-shiver that wouldn’t stop running up and down my spine.
Is this what we’ve come to? In a country where the friggin’ Sagas were written, the land of vicious Vikings and the explorers who discovered America (and then lost it again). Did our ancestors eat mouldy meat, dried out fish and even their shoes and survive immense volcanic eruptions and harsh winters with their fjords filled with icebergs so that their offspring could turn orange and worship Britney and K-Fed?
I’m thinking that had our ancestors had the power of seeing into the future, they would probably all have jumped into that scorching hot crater to prevent this from happening.
I’m stunned, bewildered and betrayed…give me back the good old days with shoe eating and no orange-looking dude in sight pleeeeease.
Friday, November 03, 2006
It's getting hot in herre
And not in a good way.
I just heard that some weather experts in the US were saying that the next three months in Iceland will be warm. You might think to yourself, well, that's good news ay? But I think it's actually horrible news; warm weather in Iceland in the wintertime simply means wind, rain and darkness whereas cold weather means no wind, sun and especially with a little snow--bright and beautiful days. With dark and rainy days I'm sure we'll all develop bloody seasonal depression and off ourselves one by one. In a country with a population of 15 (ok 300,000) that's a pretty bad thing you know.
And why is this happening? The answer lies in my favourite phrase these days, Global Warming. So, tomorrow there's a world-wide demonstration to urge world leaders to take action against climate change (in this I don't mean to shun the Kyoto agreement and open more polluting factories like the Icelandic leaders are doing).
I think the Icelandic politicians in charge should sit down and think a wee bit about their words and actions on this day. The thing is that Global Warming is a fashionable phrase these days and our leaders sure seem to use it. They say things like "We needa take action against Greenhouse gases bla bla bla". I don't know whether they realize that vegetation is super important when dealing with Global Warming, photosynthesis you know... Still, our politicians sink 57 km2 of vegetated areas, hmmm, where the hell were they during biology 101 in highschool?
Anyway, check out the link to the global climate campaign and see what's being done in your country tomorrow.
Have a good weekend
