Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Darker
By: E. L. James

Outer back cover: Daunted by the dark secrets of the tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Ana Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a US publishing house.
But desire for Grey still dominated her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, she cannot resist. Soon she is learning more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shade than she ever thought possible.
But while Grey wrestles with his inner demons, Ana must make the most important decision of her life.
A decision she can only make on her own...


I really liked this book, it was nice to learn more about Christian's background and why he is the way he is. I actually like Christian and Ana much more as a couple after this book. I think I might like this book better than the first one.

It was also exciting as there was some extra drama: One of Christian's "Exes" turned a bit psycho....
Like the first one, this is still erotica, but there's a nice balance between the detailed sex scenes and the ones that are just kind of insinuated.

Judging by this books ending, the last book in the trilogy is going to be really exciting, I'm looking forward to starting it!

The Blue Light

A few weeks ago I bought a TV for my bedroom (Grundig 32" LCD for those that care). I paid for it with the money I was going to give my Dad for rent, that way he can keep the TV when I leave, it just seemed a bit silly to buy a TV when I'm hopefully moving abroad in a year's time. It's nice to be able to watch TV in my room, to have a screen larger then my laptop to watch movies on, and that my room is now a bit more of a refuge.

Downside: the dust... The TV is all black and shiny so the dust shows really easy! And of course, it being a bedroom doesn't really make it any better!

Another downside, one that is much worse (in my eyes anyway), I can't turn it properly off! It only has a stand-by mode! It's terrible! What kind of modern (which usually means environmentally friendly) bullshit is this?! Surely if it's always on stand-by it must be guzzling up electricity? And I don't feel good about unplugging it all the time either, I feel like that can't be very good for the TV, but I just have to sometimes at night, there is an annoying blue light that is just far to bright sometimes when I try to sleep.

The light is just there... Staring at me... Keeping me awake...

It does say in the manual that it uses very little electricity in stand-by mode, but it's still using some! ...Couldn't the light at least be smaller if not non-existent? Like the tiny one next to the line!

Oh well, you learn something new every day, at least now I know to check for that the next time I buy a TV. 

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey
By: E. L. James

Outer back cover: When literature student Anastasia Steele interviews successful entrepreneur Christian Grey, she finds him very attractive and deeply intimidating. Convinced that their meeting went badly, she tries to put him out of her mind - until he turns up at the store where she works part-time, and invites her out.
Unworldly and innocent, Ana is shocked to find she wants this man. And, when he warns her to keep her distance, it only makes her want him more.
But Grey is tormented by inner demons, and consumed by the need to control. As they embark on a passionate love affair, Ana discovers more about her own desires, as well as the dark secrets Grey keeps hidden away from public view...

A friend wrote about reading this book and enjoying it so I decided I wanted to read it as well to see if I felt the same way...

I didn't like Ana at all in the first few chapters, she was just a bit over-the-top, but after a few chapters I got into the story and her, she became a character I could imagine being for most of the time, which is what I think anybody that's reading a book needs to be able to do to properly enjoy a book.

The book is REALLY detailed in the sex bits, I had heard about it being very detailed, but I didn't really think there would be SO MUCH of it!! I've heard Hollywood is currently making a film of the book, I think it's just Hollywood's excuse to make a storyline porn movie!

I still liked the book though, it was really interesting to see Ana kind of explore her limits and to think about whether or not I would be willing to stretch them as far as she did as well, I like getting "moral dilemmas" and something to think about when reading a book, even if it's just fiction.

I liked the end of the book, it's really making me curious about how the next book in the trilogy is going to start!

Sunday Meme

Another meme from Sunday Stealing.

1. You have been awarded the time off from work and an all-expense paid week anywhere in the United States. The catch is that it must be somewhere you have not been before. Where do you choose to visit? Since I've not been anywhere in the States yet it's kind of hard to choose, but since I'm doing the East Coast next year and I would love to see California as well, I guess I would go to California, and go to one of Ellen's shows while I was there.
2. What do you value most in other people? Honesty, manners and hard work (when they're co-workers)
3. Be honest. Do you sneak some raw cookie dough when you're baking cookies? Who doesn't?
4. What is the most beautiful place you've ever visited? Possibly Uluru, it was by far the most beautiful sunrise I've seen. I think it might be a shared first place between Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.
5. Are you more of a thinker or a feeler? A thinker
6. Have you ever participated in a three-legged race? Yes, at school
7. When you are at an event playing the National Anthem, do you place your hand over your heart? Other than the National Day they don't really play the National Anthem very often in Norway, but I don't normally put my hand on my heart unless everybody around me is.
8. What kind of work do you do? I work in a store putting out merchandise in the mornings before opening, and back in the storage tidying, handling deliveries etc.
9. During the course of your lifetime, which job or career has been your favourite or most fulfilling? I am quite enjoying my current job, especially the office part of it.
10. Do you think it's necessary in your life to have a day-to-day "career" that is meaningful and service-oriented or do you function better in "just a job" with a steady paycheck? I don't necessarily want something service-oriented, but I think it would be fun to have a proper "career", but at the same time it would be easier in a way to have "just a job", that way I don't have to think too much about the future etc.
11. Was there ever a time in your life when you wanted to stay home with your children instead of working, eve if it meant less money in the household? I don't have any kids, but I think that if I chose to have any in the future, then I would like to stay at home with them at least until they start school.
12. Have you ever been the boss? Not really, but I've had managerial shifts in jobs, part of me likes it, but at the same time I'm worried about being too "bossy", although I do try to just act the same no matter what position I've got in a job.
13. What is your dream occupation? I'm not entirely sure, but maybe something office-based since I'm enjoying that in my current job.

A stressful few days

So far this week I've been on my own in the "office part" of the warehouse. The three other guys were sick, on holiday and at a course.

It's been a little bit scary, I feel there is still quite a bit I don't know, but at the same time I learn quicker when I'm just thrown into things. In a way it's been super stressful, everything has happened at once and it feels like every time I feel like I've managed to start clearing out the delivery reception area, twice as much has come and there is no room for it!

Despite the stress and nervousness I've really enjoyed it! I do like filling in merchandise as well, but I like the "office" work even more, at least then I get to use a bit more of my brain as well as getting some exercise. I think it's also because I don't like to not have anything to do when I'm at work so it's better to have 50 things to do at once than having to try and find something that needs doing.

I also feel like I've been well looked after while I've been on my own! The guys have all been calling me to ask how I'm getting on and telling me to just call them if I need help of anything, which is really nice. I'll be happy tomorrow when the manager is back from his holiday though, I hope he won't think I've done a rubbish job.

I can't have done too bad a job though, everybody has been bragging about me and to me the last week, I have to say it feels nice to know that someone actually notices that I try to work hard. I hate people that doesn't do anything when they're at work, especially when there are things that needs to be done, work is for working, you can relax and do nothing when you're at home.

Paris - Day 4. The Statue of Liberty

On Sunday I had an afternoon flight back home and I didn't need to check out of the hostel before noon. J had caught an early train to Switzerland. To kill some time I went for a little walk around Paris. I also wanted to check if they had stocked up the stamp machine at the Eiffel tower so that I could send some postcards, but no such luck.

I would love to come back to Paris. It's such a beautiful city and there is so much left to see and do. Like Rome it has loads of old buildings, but unlike Rome the streets are really wide and open. Except for Montmartre and at the big tourist attractions I didn't feel like the streets were crowded with tourists at all. Paris is a great city to walk everywhere in, there is so much to look at, but the public transpot system is great as well. Even when one line of the metro was closed I could always get where I wanted just by hopping on another one.

When I was on the Metro to get back to the hostel to get my luggage and check out, I saw the Statue of Liberty while the Metro was on a bridge over the Seine!! I had totally forgot that France of course had it's own statue of Liberty. It's much much smaller than the one in New York, but it's the first one I've seen with my own eyes. I just had to get off the Metro and see it up close.

The statue is on a cute narrow man-made pedestrian island in the middle of the Seine, Île aux Cygnes. Unfortunately I had to rush to the other end of it to see the statue, but I wish I had had some time to just leisurely stroll down it, it was lovely and there was hardly any people there. I think the few people that were walking were locals, nobody looked like a typical tourist anyway.

The very end where the statue was standing was closed off, it looked like there was some work going on there, so it will probably be possible to walk there in the future, but I still managed to get quite close to it. It was really cool to see it up close, it was almost more special because it's not the one everybody talks about, but it's also not the original one that apparently stands in the Jardin du Luxembourg. The one I saw is from 1889, and it's been used in the movie National treasure; Book of Secrets (isn't Google great?! Apparently there is heaps of Replicas of the Statue all over the world).

I am really looking forward to seeing the big one in New York next year though!

Potato Leek Soup

I decided to try something new for dinner today. I found a recipe for potato leek soup on Peta.org, I've not found many soups that has been blended that I like, I normally like to have something to chew even in soups, but this one was actually really nice. I did cut down on the ingredients since I was making it only for myself, I ended up getting two big bowls of soup, since it has potatoes in it it was really filling, one bowl would have been enough, but it was really tasty so it didn't really matter.

Click here for the original recipe. Below is the amounts I used.

1 big leek, white part only, sliced (I chopped some of the green part as well since the white part was so short)
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 vegetable stock cube
Salt and pepper to taste

- Place the leeks and potatoes in a pot. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Add the stock cube and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat. Transfer to a blender or food processor and process until thick and smooth.
- Put in bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.