2011 First Lines.

I saw this meme at ...Petty Witter's blog Pen and Paper. Originated at Suko's Notebook. And I thought it would be a fun way to look back at my blog in 2011.

The idea is to "take the first line of each month's first post over the past year and see what it tells you about your blogging year". This should be interesting... 


Click on the month to read the whole post the line is taken from.


January:
Any New Year resolutions out there?
February:
My suitcase is very full.
March:
As I was walking home from work tonight I noticed that there were Northern lights on the sky (where else?).
April:
Weather was still nice today, no sun, but no rain or snow either, so I went on a small hike.
May:
I just learned about an Alphabet game, through a spoonful of (who learnt about it through notes of sincerity).
June:
Second book in the 100+ Reading Challenge:
July:
I've been running around a lot today, trying to get everything sorted.
August:
The family I live with has pudding/dessert just about every day, and I think it would be nice to make it for them occasionally.
September:
We went whale watching at the Gold Coast this morning.
October:
My host family and I went to Moreton Island today
November:
So The Paramedic cancelled on me on Sunday.
December:
I have had today off, so I've been looking at what specified jobs there are in regional Australia, for when I finish as an au pair in January.




I think this representation is quite good. I've got some of my travels in there, books, memes and just random posts. I've also got the host family and The Paramedic. Not too bad I don't think. I noticed my sentences are  often very short though...


If you decide to hop on this meme, please let me know so I can have a look at your 2011 as well!

Z is for...

ZZZZzzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzz - snoring.

People that have slept in the same room as me, have said that I occasionally snore. So far there has only been one person that has been annoyed by it  told me that they're annoyed by it though. It was mostly because they couldn't get to sleep.

I am also irritated by the fact that I snore. I'm scared that there are more people that are annoyed by it, but just doesn't say anything. When I sleep in the same room as other people I have trouble going to sleep because I worry about it... The first few nights when I get to Australia I'm staying at a hostel, so I'll probably be sharing the room with other people. I'm not looking forward to that.... I'm also going to try and get some sleep on the plane, but for some reason I'm not as worried about that.

While I lived in England, I went to the doctor one time about it. He told me he could refer me to a specialist up at the hospital if I wanted to. I kind of regret not taking him up on that. I'm not really sure why I didn't. I think I was afraid I would have had to pay if I went to see a specialist, or if I had to have surgery. Of course I could have just asked about that while I was talking to the doctor about it, but why would I do something like that? I might make things easier for myself.

I refuse to go to the doctor here in Norway. I have to pay. Before I moved to England it was 120NOK (£12ish) for a 10 minute consultation, if they had to do any test or you were getting vaccinations or anything, that's extra. I don't know if it's still the same price or not (probably more), but I refuse to go. That's one of the things I loved about England; free doctors and free birth-control pills.

Back to the snoring. My mother snores as well, loudly. She went to see if anything could be done about it a few years ago, but there was nothing the doctors could do... They said that the surgery they usually perform to stop snoring wouldn't have had any effect on her snoring. Maybe it's the same with me?

Well, this was the last post in the alphabet game. If I had been doing this in Norwegian, there would actually be three more posts: Æ, Ø and Å.


Thank you all for going through this alphabet meme with me and for all your lovely comments. Please let me know of any other blog memes  you think I should try, as I really enjoyed doing this one.

Y is for...

York.

If you ever visit the UK, or if you already live there, be sure to visit York. It's such a beautiful city. I went there a few times when I lived in England. I just love the old buildings, the narrow streets and the cute little shops. It's also one of the few places in the UK where they sell salt liquorice.

I would love to go back one day, just to see the inside of York Minster, as I never got around to that.

Here are some pictures from the first time I visited York, in 2007. I was looking through my photos yesterday, and it seems this was the only time I actually took any!

 Is it just me or does it look like that house is smiling?

X is for...

Xenodocheionology (za-noh-doh-ka-NOL-a-jee)

Noun meaning "the love of hotels and inns". From the Greek words "xenos" meaning stranger or guest and "dechestai" meaning receive.

Foe example: Someone might study xenodocheionology to help hotel owners appeal to more people.

While I don't consider myself a xenodocheionologist, I do enjoy seeing pictures of luxury hotels and cozy inns. Like this picture from Larisa's post: Moments of Zen.

The picture is taken at a hotel in the Maldives, Conrad Rangali Island Maldives Hotel. The room is usually a restaurant, but has been converted to a bedroom for their 5 year anniversary. I doubt I would have been able to sleep there, I'd spend all night watching the fish and worrying about the glass breaking. I would love to go there and eat in the room when it's a restaurant though.

Money isn't everything, but I sure wouldn't mind winning loads and loads of money, just so that I could travel and see the world, while staying at luxury hotels or cozy inns.

W is for....

Warm milk with honey.

I love having a cup of warm milk and honey when I've got a sore throat. It doesn't really make my throat better for more than a couple of minutes, but it tastes delicious! I had one last night and again this morning.

V is for...

The topic for today's post was a though choice between Vampires and Volcanoes. Then last night around 21.00, Norwegian time, another volcano erupted in Iceland, and voilà! I have my topic!

Volcanoes.

The volcano that erupted last night was Grímsvötnum. As it's situated under a large glacier, Vatnajökull, they're expecting some flooding. Luckily Grímsvötnum is in the middle of nowhere, so there aren't many people near it.

Grímsvötnum usually have small, short eruptions every five years, but last time it erupted was in 2004, so 7 years ago. This time the eruption seem a bit bigger as well, they're expecting it to last for a week. Iceland has closed their airspace (all of it!) and has notified other European countries, like Britain and Norway, that there might be some problems with air traffic. Since their airspace is closed, any flights to America that usually flies that way, has to take a route further south. Although they're taking all these precautions they're not expecting it to be as bad as the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull last year.

Some coworkers of mine went to Iceland last weekend. I bet they're glad they're home and safe now.

Eyjafjelajokull erupted not long before I was going back to Norway last year. I got to Oslo airport Gardermoen with no problem. While I was waiting for my next flight, another flight in the same direction I was going got cancelled because of the ashes that was still in the air. I got a little nervous when I heard that, as the flight I was catching was the last one for the day. Luckily I got on it and it landed in Molde on time.

I remember that when Eyjafjellajokull erupted last year, they were talking about how the eruption might make other "delayed" volcanoes nearby on Iceland erupt as well. I guess they were right. The scientist noticed the glacier above Grimsvotnum started to melt late last year, and they knew it would erupt this year.

Volcanoes fascinate a lot of people, including me. I think it would be really cool to watch a volcano erupt with my own eyes, from a safe distance of course. I would also like to climb a volcano. Although I'm not sure I will ever dare to do that, as even extinct volcanoes can suddenly decide to become active again. Scientist say that extinct volcanoes are unlikely to erupt because they no longer have a lava supply. It's the unlikely bit I don't like...

You know on American films and tv-shows (and probably in real life) they make volcanoes as a school project. I would have loved to do that when I was in school!

The worlds most famous volcano is probably Mount Vesuvius in Italy. In 79 A.D. it killed about 2000 people and destroyed and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculoneum. The cities were forgotten about and not discovered again until the 18th century! And the discovery was accidental! Pompeii is by the way another place I would like to visit before I die.

Vesuvius is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world, with 3,000,000 people living nearby. Because of the nearby population and the fact that it's known for it's many and explosive eruptions, it's today considered one of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes! I don't think I'll climb that in the near future!

(source)

U is for...

Uluru.

Or Ayers Rock as some people know it as.

This is one of the places/things I REALLY want to see while I'm in Australia.

It's known for changing colour as the different light strikes it at different times of day and also different times of the year.

It's possible to get a 3 day pass to the park it's in, maybe I should go camping there? I want to go with someone else though. Someone that can drive me there... Any volunteers? (By the way, I occasionally snore...)

T is for...

Tattoo.

I wanted a tattoo for many years. But at the same time I didn't want one. I was worried about regret having one, or not liking it when I get older. I usually regret having my hair cut just after a few hours. At least my hair grows back out again, it's a little worse if I regret having a tattoo...

When I finally decided I wanted to get a tattoo I had been thinking about it for quite some time. All I then needed to do was decide what I wanted and where I wanted it.

The where wasn't too hard. I wanted it somewhere I could hide it away or show it depending on what I wanted or needed. Like in case I get a job where they prefer that a tattoo isn't on show. I decided to have it on the back of my shoulder. I also knew I just wanted a small one, I think a big one is easier to regret, and also takes longer to remove if you need to do that.

Then I needed to decide what I wanted.I wanted something that meant something to me, not just something I thought was pretty (although that too of course).

I was living in England at that moment. In England I had learnt more about who I was, and I think my personality and the way I acted had changed a bit as a result. I also felt freer. It's amazing what can happen when you move away from friends, family and everything you know, everything that influences you, and start a new life in a completely new place.

Anyway.

Because of all that I decided on a butterfly for my tattoo. The butterfly stands for Rebirth, change and freedom.

I spent ages looking for the right one on the internet. After all: I was going to have it for the rest of my life. There were many beautiful tattoos, but many of them was too large for my liking, and if I shrank them they would just look weird because of all the details.

While I was trying to decide, my friend "N" and I went on holiday to Marmaris, Turkey. N had two tattoos at the time, one on her lower back and one on her ankle, and she wanted another one. N wanted to get a tattoo in Turkey, she found some nice shooting stars that she wanted on her wrist, and she got the tattooed at the hotel where we were staying. Don't worry, it was safe. It only took her a few seconds to decide when she saw the picture of the shooting stars (it's really pretty as well). She said that when you see the right tattoo you just know, if you have to spend ages thinking about it, then it's not the right one. I had a look at the tattoos they had at the hotel as well, but I couldn't find one. And anyway, I really wanted to get it in England, so that I had a permanent memory from living there. N wanted a permanent memory from being in Marmaris.

When we got back to England another friend said "If you can't find one you like, why don't you get the tattoo artist to draw one free-hand? Not directly on you of course. That way you'll have one that nobody else has as well!" I thought this was a great idea, but all I knew was that I wanted a butterfly of some sort on my shoulder. That's not really much to go on is it?

One day I decided I should have a look at what tattoos the local tattoo parlor had in their books, maybe they had some I liked.

And there it was!

It wasn't completely right, but I got them to make some changes to it.

On the day I got my tattoo I put some numbing gel on my shoulder. I could hardly feel the needle! That is until the tattoo pattern got outside the gelled area. That HURT! But I was happy with the result.

This is the best picture I've got of the one N got in Turkey, she said it was really painful, and I don't doubt it for a second!

There are so many results when you google "butterfly tattoos"...

I'm not very good at drawing, and my memory's not great, but I think the tattoo I've got looked something like this originally.

And this is my tattoo today. It's a lot bigger than I had in mind at first, I wanted something about the size from the bottom butterfly and down, but it turned out okay. I like it.

I look tanned!!!!! Unfortunately I know  it's just the light that does it...

The first time I took a picture of my tattoo something weird happened to the phone I took the picture with. I think the picture is kind of cool though...

Now I'm thinking about getting a tattoo when I go to Australia, for the same reasons as the England one. But what should I get, and where should I have it? I guess that's something for me to figure out while I'm there. Maybe I decide not to have one at all.

Do you have any tattoos? If so, what and where?

S is for...

Sims!

I love playing the Sims. It's pretty much the only computer game I play. I have the Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval. At the moment I'm going through a regular Sims 3 period. I can stop playing it for months, then suddenly I want to play again... Like now. I try to not let it "take over" my life though, so I usually only play for a few hours before going to bed.

I want these clothes!!

Hahaha! Yeah, this is pretty much what I look like when throwing a ball.

I really want the new expansions pack for the Sims 3 "Generations", but I don't think I'll "waste my money" on that right now.

I don't know why, but there's an ice cream box on the floor...

R is for...

Red.

I love red accessories and clothes. Unfortunately I can't wear too much red as I've got too much red in my skin, so if I wear red as well I'll look like a giant tomato with hair. I can accessories though. Just need some money and clothes to go with it first...

I also think red can be great to decorate with. But it can easily get "tacky" as well, so it's important not to overdo it. I would love a mansion so that I have hundreds of rooms, just so that I could decorate each room in a different colour and style.

Q is for...

Queensland!

Since I'm going to Queensland I thought it might be a good idea to find some things to do and places to go there. I'm planning to travel around and see the state on my days off while I'm there, so that maybe when I finish working for the family in Brisbane, I can move on to another state or territory.

One thing I know I want to do in Queensland is dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Maybe I'll rent an underwater camera or something so that I can get some good pictures of it as well.

I would also like to visit a Rainforest. But on a guided tour or something, so that if something happens, if I'm bit or something, then there is someone there that might be able to help me.
If I go to the Daintree Rainforest, then maybe I can go to the Daintree Eco Centre as well!

Daintree Rainforest

The Whitsundays. Before I had decided what I wanted to do in Australia, while I just knew I wanted to go there, I looked at some short trips that some companies did. Charity trips, adventure trips and so on. And one of them offered a 7 or 3-day sailing trip around the Whitsundays. And I thought that sounded really nice, so I would like to do that.

Fraser Island. It just looks really beautiful!

I also think whale and dolphin watching could be fun. I would also love to swim with dolphins sometime, maybe I can get to do  that in Queensland too?

Cape York. Just because it's the northernmost point in Australia, and I think it would be fun to just say I've been there. I think I'll try to go there in the winter though, as it's probably VERY warm in the summer!

There are loads, and loads more places to go and thing to do in Queensland. If you have any suggestions for me please let me know in the comments!

P is for...

Photography.

I love taking pictures. I don't need a great camera to take pictures, but it helps sometimes. The pictures get a lot better.

I've been "stealing" my sister's new SLR camera for the last couple of days, and my dad's. I love playing around with them and learning more about how to use the focus and the light-settings and just basically how to use an SLR camera. The ones I took in Oslo could have probably been a lot better if I had know back then how to use the focus and stuff. I probably just had it on auto on the day I took those pictures.

My dad has taught me a lot, since he's a photographer.

I would really like a digital SLR of my own, but at the moment I'd rather spend my money on travelling. If I ever get an SLR, I might take a photography course, so that I learn more about how to use it. I mean, if I don't know how to use it I might as well just use a compact camera like the one I've got now.

I took loads of pictures with the SLR cameras, but only one without any people in it.

O is for...

Oslo.

I took these photos when I visited my dad in 2008. My camera had broke, so I got to borrow my dad's really expensive digital SLR. I want one! Not an expensive one though. When I walked around Oslo with my dad's I was terrified of dropping it or someone stealing it or something. But I guess my small "normal" one is easier to have when I traveling, and it's easy to just put in my bag or pocket and have it with me everywhere.

Grand Hotel

Parliament

Oslo City Hall

Some guys that were just randomly standing in front of the Royal Palace and ruined my shot.

 I think this is the courthouse, but I'm not sure. Might be a museum...

Hard Rock Cafe Oslo