Home again

In a way it does feel as if I am returning home again this weekend. Turku has meant so much to me for several months and therefore I know I will feel right at home again. My old roomie from back then has been so nice to not move out of our flat yet, so in that way it will even be more of a homecoming. I won't have my own room back of course, although I am sure I could get rid of it's current owner i I'd tried. :P Muhaha

I am sure the room misses the way I treated it, it looked so cosy during most of the time. ;)

Here it is in a very typical Kat-style. All my stuff is within reach, both when studying on the ground or sleeping on my mattress. Handy don't you agree? ;) Of course there was a point when my parents came and visited me, so for them I did do an extra effort and following pic shows the room probably at it's cleanest after nine months without my mum around forcing me to clean out my mess. ;)

Mm, Petra must really be looking forward to having me back as her roomie. :P I try to behave better as a guest of course, but even then my stuff just magically seems to spread itself over the available and unavailable space! Obviously I can not help it. :)

So, now I will have to leave my Viggo (yep, my laptop has a name, just for the network of course ;) )and start packing some stuff! I already put my skates in my bag and to my horror they appear to fill already half of it... Maybe I could save space on warm clothes, Turku seems to be having about 7 degrees, so no snowy weather for Kat apparently. But I'll have a great time anyway. :)

Farewell

This is it, my last post...

written on this computer that is. :) Tomorrow will be the first time that I will spend a large amount of money in one time, as I am planning on buying my own laptop. It's an idea I have been playing with since a while now, as the computer I am using now is already second hand and not mine. The fact that it's old means that everything goes slow, each day it crashes and many programs won't even run on it. The fact that it's not mine means that I am supposed to be careful of what I do with it and download on it, so having no one but myself to look at seems like a good idea. For this old computer anyway, as it has suffered tremendously in the past 2 years with me behind it I think. :P So tomorrow I am off with my father to the city center to look for some possible laptops and hopefully find a decent not too expensive one which will work with our wireless Internet thingy. You can see what I need my father for, I haven't got a clue about the technical side of these things. ;)

This past week has been rather uneventful, even at work it was relatively quiet. Let's pretend it is the silence before the storm, as changes are coming. :) Next week a new system will be introduced at my job, meaning that the table division will be altered and that I most likely will be seated somewhere else, with other colleagues. Could be exciting, but I mainly find it annoying, as I truly enjoyed the people I was sitting close to. But many people say changes aren't always a bad thing, so restless Kat will just have to wait and see how it will be. So hard being patient sometimes. :P

Here winter hasn't appeared yet, in southern Scandinavia neither (it'd better come in a week though!!), but in some parts snow has fallen. And that means the start of this years winter season on TV. I can now spend my Saturday and Sunday mornings again in front of the TV with a blanket around me cheering my favourite norwegian athletes on their way to glory. The biathlon will first start next weekend, but the cross country events have already begun. And for all those people who claim this is a sport for grannies, I do not agree. :P Last year we did a tour of 18 km and I have never ever felt as tired and completely destroyed for the following days and after that trip. But we were proud to have made it. :P

Chaaarge!

November 11th, the end of World War I... What better way to celebrate this than to start your own war! Some colleagues at work had organized a paintball trip at one of the fortresses around Antwerp. These were built to defend the region during the war, but nowadays other activities are taking place there, in this particular case similar to it's original use. :P So off we went, eleven TNT people and one additional warrior, this being my sister, who had been very pleased to hear that she could come as well. After all, who would want to miss an opportunity to get full of bruises, paint and mud! :P

Team TNT in full force!

At the event we were teamed up with another group of visitors, together making the green team. Some vicious looking others would be building the black team, from that moment on our worst enemies. We were all given an extra or extra extra large overall, making us look very sexy of course, and with it a semi-helmet, covering just our face. Not the back of the head or neck, as we would soon notice and feel. :) Throughout the day different kind of battles would take place, like capturing a flag or guiding our captain into the camp of the enemy. Each game was played twice, so each team could be defender and attacker once. Before noon we were winning each battle easily, but unfortunately the black team was somewhat expanded in the afternoon, putting a stop to our winning streak. In any case, everybody had an absolutely wonderful time, making us forget about the aching bones and soar spots where paint bullets had hit us. Joining the army would have been a disaster for me though, as I already have painful muscles after carrying a gun for some hours and running and hiding in muddy trenches and behind trees.

My best shot of the day must have been the one aimed at my sister. She was of a course a team member, but right before the end of our paint ball wars, I couldn't resist the urge to fire at least one bullet in her direction. It landed neatly on her leg, leaving a beautiful bruise and a grudge against me. :) But then again, that's what sisters are fore, to tease now and then. We have an illegal hobbit sword here at home, so I hope she won't be out for revenge. ;)

:)

It's truly great to be remembered. This might sound somewhat egocentric, but in the end I do think that almost all people need to know and feel that other people care about them and sometimes think of them. And birthdays happen to be moments on which people think of you, so another reason for me to enjoy growing one year older. :) The day itself was very nice, many wishes from many friends and relatives, nice presents and a nice dinner party thingy in the evening. Home made pizza's, no shop can beat those. :) One of the smallest presents I got was no surprise to me, but it means a lot more to me than what it looks like. It was the last train wagon on the picture.

The last eight years I received one wagon for each birthday from my best friend Charlotte. We will have been best friends for ten years this year, which I think is already quite something. One could say that now that my name is finished, our friendship could be too, but she decided to now start on my last name. Then I'll have 8 years to find myself a husband and put his last name behind it. And if he has a double last name (as many scandinavians or southern european people have), my friendship with Charlotte will be secured for quite some more years it seems. :) And then I'll just get divorced some times to keep on going. ;)

The following poem was part of my card and present I got from my Thor, in far away Venezuela. He wrote some instructions on top of it, so I'll do my best. Correct me if I write rubbish, spanish readers of mine. :P

Saying friendship

is like saying care,

it is like saying support

and help when

there are problems.

Saying friendship

is like saying loyalty,

it is like saying comprehension

and sincerity

Saying friendship

is like saying happiness,

it is like saying life.

Maybe quite a free translation with that verb, but a direct one would have sounded even more unnatural in English I think. Anyway, even though I am everything but poetic, I like this text. Probably because I received it from someone I consider a true friend anyway and that gives it extra meaning. :) Maybe it isn't good to be dependent, but there definitely are some people I couldn't anymore imagine my life without.

23

Tomorrow I'll be 23. I think it's a nice number, for some reasons the uneven numbers appeal to me. 17 sounded nice, 19 as well and 21 definitely has a charm to it. I find that 23 has this as well, even though it starts sounding more mature. At a family party some weekends ago one of my younger cousins wanted to know whether or not my sister and I were "adults". We found that a hilarious comment. I guess my life has become more adult-like since I started to work, but only because it brings more responsibility than being a student. I am the youngest at my job and I wouldn't say I am being treated like that, but I do feel it in some way. Mainly because I giggle more and find it in a way funny when I make mistakes. :P I also don't have to care too much about the money I make, as I can still spend it on nice stuff without feeling guilty for not saving for a new washing machine or so.

I don't have any big plans for tomorrow anyway. It's a Sunday to begin with and I really don't like organising big things for myself. :P Parties are great, but not if you are the one responsible for it I feel, as it creates too much pressure in a way. Receiving many gifts is fun though.... :P

Winter is really coming now and I love it! This week was the first in which I could wear my new winter coat and such an event is always nice. ;) I don't expect it will snow here any time soon, but hearing from other people that it snowed in their country is already great. I am all the time urging cold weather to stay in Turku, as I really intend to bring my skates there and have a massive snow ball fight. :) Sledging would be cool too. It sucks that alpine skiing is so expensive though, as I would love to do that again. I am of course still a total beginner when it comes to that, but my two times on such ski's weren't so dreadful either. It does remain scary to fall when racing down a steep mountain, so I would need some extra nerves to become better at it I suppose. ;)

Didn't I look like a professional? :P