KiwiRia

Books I'll be looking to buy when in London... well, a selected sub-set of them anyway, as getting all would be FAR too expensive, and as we're not leaving till August 28th, the list is likely to grow even longer.

* The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl 6) - Eoin Colfer (maybe... I own 1-3 in Danish, so it might be silly to get #6 in English. May just wait till it makes it to the libraries)
* The Yada-Yada Prayer Group #4 (I bought 2 and 3 from Amazon uk today. Second-hand they cost around £5 each including postage, so this depends very much on the price!)
* Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1) - Jim Butcher
* Too Busy Not To Pray - Jo Carro
* The Beasts of Clawstone Castle - Eva Ibbotson
* The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family - Mary S. Lovell
* The Forgotten Beasts of Eld - Patricia A. McKillip
* The Perilous Gard - Elizabeth Marie Pope
* Encyclopdia of an Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
* The Cross-Legged Knight - Candace Robb
* Nifft the Lean - Michael Shea
* Outer Banks - Anne Rivers Siddon
* Freedom and Necessity - Steven Brust
* Daughter of the Blood - Anne Bishop
* The Sleeping Beauty Proposal - Sarah Strohmeyer
* The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
* People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
* Kitchen Confidential OR A Cook's Tour - Anthony Bourdain
* Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading - Maureen Corrigan
* Sabriel - Garth Nix
* Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
* The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
* Avalon High - Meg Cabot
* Idlewild - Nick Sagan
* What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman
* The Lost Diary of Don Juan - Douglas Carlton Abrams
* About the Author - John Colapinto
* The Trial - Franz Kafka
* The Children's Hospital - Chris Adrian
* City of Pearl - Karen Traviss
* Dragonsdale - Salamanda Drake
* In Between - Jennifer B. Jones
* The Death Committee - Noah Gordon (so far I've loved everything I've ever read by Noah Gordon)
* An Offer You Can't Refuse - Jill Mansell
* The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Alborn
* The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
* Ill Wind - Rachel Caine
* Answering 911 - Caroline Burau
* Hidden - Shelley Shepard Gray
* The Shape Changer's Wife - Sharon Shinn
* A Mango Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
* Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall - Wendy Mass


Yikes, it turned out even longer than I expected. Okay, this is where I need you, dear fellow-bookworms. I have to cut this list down somehow, so if you'd care to play along, tell me which 5 of the following I should get (and if you feel like it - why). Also tell me which one I should stay far, far away from.

Thanks! :-)

I'm still in the process of copying tapes to MP3 files (it'll take FOREVER! but be very worth it :) ) and to my frustration discovered I wasn't very good at always writing artists down when copying tapes from LPs or other tapes. Google to the rescue! Thanks to Google I've been able to find even the most obscure songs somewhere online. I'm impressed.

Just for the fun of it, here are the links to some of my favourite songs that I've rediscovered after many years (links go to box.net. I don't think you need to download anything, you should just be able to hear them straight from the link. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to embed them here).

From the Eurovision Song Contest 1991
England - A Message To Your Heart
Norway - Mrs. Thompson
Sweden - Fangad Av En Stormvind (winning entry)
Turkey - Iki Dakika

From the Eurovision Song Contest 1982
Luxumburg - Papa Pengouin (my sisters and I LOVED this song when we were kids and would listen to it non-stop while dancing around the living room :) )

Misc
The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron (hilarious :) )

Like I've mentioned before, Lars occasionally talks in his sleep, and it can get REALLY amusing at times. Today was one of those days. He's had a night shift, so he came home and went to bed at the time I got up. When I left for work I went to kiss him goodbye. He usually sleeps right past that, but today he stirred and - still with his eyes closed - said, "Just so we're on the same page... if I start out in the kitchen... how long does it take to drive in track 3 at SomeStation?"

I stared at him for awhile. The ... denotes at least 10-15 seconds of silence, so first I thought he was talking about the reception he's going to today, then that he'd do some laundry and ask me to get it out of the machine, but it ended up a completely different place.

"Honey, you know that better yourself. Did you really want to ask me something, or should you go back to sleep?"

"Go back to sleep".

I wonder if he'll remember ANY of it when I come home this afternoon ;)

I'm not quite sure what it says about me that the one person who met me after only knowing me on LJ (I've met three others, but knew all of them outside LJ) took me off her f-list after meeting me in person! ;) Nah, I know the LJ society well enough not to take it personally, but I'll miss her and am sad not to be able to keep up with her life any longer (her LJ is friends-only). Ah well...

On a happier note, I was just sent this forward and cracked up laughing at it. Thought I'd share it with you guys as well.

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to elect competent candidates as President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
(You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
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2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour', 'favour', 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise'. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
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3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The M*crosoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.
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4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
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5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
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6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
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7. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
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8. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
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9. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
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10. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth- see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
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11. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
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12. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full Kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try competing in rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.
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13. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
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14. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
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15. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
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16. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4pm with proper cups with saucers (never mugs), with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

I'm feeling somewhat vulnerable these days, without knowing exactly why. Unfortunately it's coinciding with a long sequence of Lars having evening shifts (2pm-11pm), so while he's good at snuggling when he comes to bed, I don't quite get the TLC I need :( Fortunately tonight is the last of his evening shifts (unfortunately it's a double shift, so he doesn't come home till 7am tomorrow) so hopefully I'll feel better soon.


Yesterday at work some of my colleagues and I had a course in a new program we needed to be certified in in order to become partners with the developers. The training was surprisingly un-boring, we all passed the test with flying colours, and the instructors took us all out for dinner that same evening. The instructors were from the States so the entire thing was conducted in English, and I was surprised to discover how much I actually miss speaking English. I write English all the time, but it's been ages since I had a proper conversation with somebody fluent in the language, so yeah... I'm odd like that I know ;) Anyway, the instructors were all lots of fun to talk with (and I managed to impress two of them quite a bit with my knowledge of the US - thank you f-list! :-D) and we had a great time - good food, good wine, good company - all good! One of them gave me a huge compliment that still has my head swelling somewhat - I got talking to him after the training session, and he asked me about my accent. I told him I'd lived in New Zealand and he replied, "I knew you weren't Danish. I would have picked British though." "Haha, no, I'm Danish through and through, but thanks!" :-D It's not often I get to fool Native English speakers into believing English is my first language, but I love it when it happens! :-D :-D :-D

All in all a really good evening :) Unfortunately that meant I didn't get home until quite late and when I finally did get to bed, I couldn't fall asleep, but lay tossing and turning until somewhere between 3 and 4 :( I feel like crap today which definitely isn't helping my feelings of vulnerability. I intend to take the consequences and do something to spoil me tonight to make me feel better. Not quite sure what yet though, so if you have any ideas, let me hear! Going to bed early will definitely be on the list though ;)

* My mail was down all weekend. Thank goodness it's up again! I could keep up with comments posted to my entries via the inbox here, but not replies to my comments elsewhere. I felt all alone :(

* I'm currently copying all my tapes to mp3s and am getting hit with wave after wave of nostalgia in the process. Some tapes I'm splitting up into separate songs, others I'll probably just keep as two long files (one for each side of the tape). It's slow work, but it'll be great to have it all available once I'm done :)

* We have a debate going on christianity at the moment - what is heresy? How to define it? It's a LOT trickier than I'd expected it to be, because while I know intuitively what I'd consider heresy and what not, it's not that easy to formulate in words, and just because I believe something to be heretic (or not), who's to say I'm right? Well, I'm pretty certain that preaching everybody is saved, that there is no Hell, that reincarnation is real or that Jesus isn't God is pretty heretic, but what about minor things? Stuff that varies from denomination to denomination? Like the perpetual virginity of Mary, the immaculate conception, infant baptism vs. adult baptism. Personally I just think those are differences of opinions, as they are not topics that will hurt anybody's chances of salvation, but honestly, who am I to say? I've had NO official training in theology whatsoever and only know what I know because of 28 years of reading the Bible and being raised in a Christian household.

So yeah... it's a lot more flighty to define than I would have thought.

* I read surprisingly little at the moment. I think it's because I have a bunch of books I feel like I ought to read (among others "A Suitable Boy" which is still plodding along. It's not bad nor boring, but at 1400 pages I'd really prefer a page-turner to keep my interest). On the other hand, I'm not sure what it says about me when "surprisingly little" means "I only finished one book over the weekend" ;-)

* Yesterday I went to the international service at the church I discovered last week, and loved that a lot too. It was less structured than the Danish service, but I enjoyed it. I'm really getting into a atmosphere of worship these days and can feel what a difference it makes to my general mood :-) I'm excited about trying the Danish youth service there once it starts up again after the summer vacation, as I'm hoping it'll be a nice compromise between the English and the Danish services. Not that I disliked either of them, but think a mixture would be great. I got more out of the sermon this time (that we honour God by enjoying life), but as it's a different speaker each week, that's probably just a coincidence.

My only beef with the church so far is that it seems to be really difficult to join the fellowship as a new-comer. Not that people weren't welcoming, but it's always hard to break into established circles, so I'm not holding it against them yet. And even if I never feel completely at home there, the worship is great and definitely worth coming for anyway. Actually not feeling at home will make it easier for me to still have my church home at Haraldskirken and just go there when I'm in the mood for their style of worship. We'll see.

LJ, why have you stopped e-mailing me my comments? Grrrr!

Writing these manuals was actually quite interesting and made me put words to a number of things I hadn't fully realised about myself. I definitely recommend you try it out too. Generally I guess I can be summed up in these two things: "Be honest" and "Be kind". But then, can't most people?

I haven't quite decided yet whether or not I'm going to show Lars the manuals. Not that I don't want him to read them, I'm just not sure he wouldn't find it silly. This kind of introspection isn't really his type. Ah well, we'll see.

For easier access and in order to add them to my memories more easily, I'll make this a 'collection' post and add links to all the other entries.

The Maria Manual - An Introduction
The Maria Manual - How to become friends with me
The Maria Manual - How to turn me on emotionally
The Maria Manual - How to make the jump to a long-term relationship with me
The Maria Manual - How to turn me on sexually (Sorry, girls only.)
The Maria Manual - How to fight with me
The Maria Manual - How to ruin a relationship with me

( How to ruin a relationship with me )

( How to fight with me )

( How to make the jump to a long-term relationship )

( How to turn me on emotionally )

( How to become friends with me )

The Maria Manual

Inspired by quaryn_dk, I thought I would sit down and write my own manual. She did it mostly relationship-wise, and I'll definitely be copying some of her 'themes' (those that I feel comfortable enough sharing here anyway ;) ), but may add some of my own if I think of any.

quaryn_dk and her husband wrote these manuals as part of a relationship retreat, and I'd definitely recommend you to either write them together with your husband/wife/significant other or share them with them afterwards. I'm going to do the latter, as writing lists like this is really not Lars' thing. But even if you're single it's a great exercise in introspection.

Lars took me out to watch "Prince Caspian" yesterday. I had had very high hopes for it as it's one of my favourites in the series, but I must admit I'm not entirely sure what I thought of it. It definitely had the Narnian feel, and for that I still loved it, but plot-wise it was quite far away from the book.

( Cut for possible spoilers )
Overall I found it good, but not quite as magical as TLTWTW. I'm still looking forward to the next movies (especially VotDT which is my favourite), but will try to lower my expectations somewhat in the future.

ETA: it's only as an adaption of the book that I was somewhat disappointed. Taking it as a movie in its own right, I loved it!

Bad Thing: My cold's still bad. I hate having a cold. I feel miserable but not bad enough to actually stay at home. If I were at least running a fever I could stay home with a clear conscience. Bah!

Good Thing #1: Lars is spoiling me rotten and being extremely attentive to make me feel better :)

Good Thing #2: I've been told my next project at work is with one of the biggest publishing companies in Denmark. I know the project itself will have very little to do with books, but I'm still ridiculously pleased that I got it - especially as I specifically asked to be put on this project. We have an initial meeting on Wednesday, but otherwise it doesn't start until October.

Good Thing #3: I'm still on a 'high' after the good experience at a new church yesterday, and have been listening to some of my favourite Praise music (Hillsongs and Ron Kenoly) all day :)

Weird Thing: I haven't updated in weeks and hardly ever visit the site at all, yet I keep getting notices that "So-and-so is following you on Twitter". Why?! People I know I can somewhat understand, but total strangers? Why would they bother following somebody who never updates? I think I've updated 3-4 times in total, and don't intend to start using it any time soon.

I've had a very interesting and God-centric Sunday so far, and it's only 12:30pm! Who knows what the rest of the day may bring :)

To start from the beginning - Friday I read The Yada-Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson, was extremely affected by it and started thinking that I'd really like to get back 'properly' in touch with God. I don't mean to say that I've moved away from Him, but reading about the experiences the women in the book had made me realize how much I miss the worshipping aspect of church services. My church is great for sermons and fellowship, but worship? Not so much. It's mostly hymns and while I love most of them, they don't get me moving the same way worship songs do. That was one of the things Central Baptist church in Palmy did really well, and one of the things I miss the most from that church.

Yesterday I came down with a cold and consequently slept really badly last night. As I was lying awake, I started missing my church life in NZ more and more and the thought kept going through my mind that I ought to try to find a church here that could provide me with what I needed, worship-wise. Unfortunately I don't know of any Evangelical Lutheran churches that would have that (actually Haraldskirken is probably one of the ones that come closest), but I have a friend who got married at a Pentecostal church relatively close to where I live, so figured I might look into that. This morning when I got up, I tried Googling it and discovered they have three services each Sunday - an 'ordinary' service at 10am, a youth service at 12:30pm (which was on Summer break in July and August though) and an international service at 3pm. The descriptions of all of them said they "put great emphasis on worshipping". Excellent! It was 9am at this time, so I figured that since I was up anyway, and didn't have any responsibilities at Haraldskirken, I might as well jump in right away and go.

I am SO glad I did. It was just what my soul needed. I'd brought my "The Message" Bible (the Bible written in contemporary English) as it's the most handy for lugging around, and while I was sitting waiting for the service to start, I flipped open the Bible to read through some Psalms. The first one I stumbled across could not have been more appropriate. Psalm 108, verses 1 and 2: I am ready, God, so ready, ready from head to toe. Ready to sing, ready to raise a God-song. Yes! I know it's paraphrased, I know it's not exactly what it says in other translations (after all, I had to look it up in the Danish Bible when I came home), but at that moment it described my emotions exactly. I was so ready to open myself to God. So ready to lift up songs of praise and let myself be filled with His Spirit. In that Psalm, David expressed exactly how I was feeling at precisely that time. I was ready 'from head to toe' to start worshipping God.

It's seldom I receive that clear a word from God that I'm doing the right thing :)

And the service was great. Wonderful spirit-filled worship, heartfelt prayers and sound theology. I'd been a bit apprehensive about the message of the sermon, as I really don't know much about how Pentecostal and Lutheran theology differs other than adult vs. infant baptism, but today's preaching was on Matt 15:21-28 (Jesus helping a Canaanite woman after initially refusing her - an odd story until fully understood) and while perhaps a bit 'easier' (I wasn't challenged much, but reminded of things I already knew) than I would have preferred, absolutely both sound theology and interesting preaching - didn't get bored at all though the sermon lasted for 30 minutes :-D

So the verdict for now is that I'll definitely be going back, and I want to try out the two other services as well to see what they're like - have a feeling I'd probably feel quite at home at the international one, but I want to give them all a try. While of nature not quite as charismatic as Pentecostals, I'm definitely at home in more charismatic services than found in the Danish State Church (LOVED the Baptist services in NZ), and it gave me such a sense of freedom and relief to not feel out of place loosing myself to the worship.

I'm not saying I'm ready to leave Haraldskirken, 'cause I'm not. I love the people there and enjoy Morten's preachings. Also, I'm still in the church council and have agreed to stay there for another term (4 years), so changing church homes completely would feel a bit too much like abandonment. Besides, I can't really base anything on one visit, and want to be sure I'm not made to feel uncomfortable by having different beliefs on some issues than they do. But taking into consideration how amazing I felt when the worshipping started, I could see myself coming regularly both places.

It was just what I needed.

Fortunately Lars LOVED his present.

Unfortunately the camera acted up and wouldn't use flash so I didn't get a good picture of his reaction.

But he pretty much shouted with laughter, so that's all good :)

Lars' birthday is tomorrow! Yay :) Can't WAIT to see the look on his face when he opens my present! :D

callistahogan tagged me...

1. How has LJ changed your life?
Many ways. It has given me a lot of friends and a huge network who helped me survive 2005 and 2006 with my sanity intact. It helped me take the first step towards reviewing books professionally. It broadened my horizons and taught me more about (especially) American culture. It also made me a LOT more addicted to the computer ;)

2. What do you do before leaving for work?
I actually have a very set routine in the mornings. My alarm goes off at 6:45am. I get up, wash, get dressed and eat breakfast while checking my e-mail and ItsYourTurn. At around 7-7:05 I turn off the computer and sit down with whatever inspirational book I'm currently reading. At 7:20 I put away the book, brush my teeth and hair, pack my bag and am out the door at 7:30am.

3. What will your dream wedding be like?
Actually my wedding was exactly like my dream wedding. The one single thing I'd change was to make sure somebody had had the camera ready to film my sisters' dance. It still bugs me nobody thought to do that. The rest was just perfect. You can read about it here (warning, it's long!)

4. What is the city of your dreams and why?
Very interesting question, because since it says 'city' and not 'country' I can't just say "New Zealand" and be done with it ;) I'll actually have to say Prague. I went there with my sister 9 years ago and we both loved the place. It's a big city with a small city feel - very quaint and cozy. I'd love to take Lars there someday.

And before you ask, no, I don't have a favourite city/town in New Zealand ;)

( More questions under the cut )

Well, that was... anti-climatic.

After several days of cleaning and tidying up (seriously, our flat has NEVER looked this good before!) he spent all of 5 minutes walking around the apartment taking notes. Guess I'd assumed he'd take photos right away, but apparently he wants to write up a sales pitch and get us to agree to that before doing that so... yeah...

Either we have to go through all of this again, or we need to try to keep things clean and tidy. I know which one I'm rooting for ;) It might just be easier to maintain status quo rather than to try to get to this level again.