I considered doing this in installments, to be easier on my poor readers (those of you who still bother checking in; I’m impressed with my site stats, not a single post in a month, but you still keep coming) but then I decided, fuck it. I shan’t underestimate the intellectual capacity of those loyal enough to give a damn like that. Also, I’d just end up not posting the next installment till next week, and that would be stupid.

The reasons for this recent hiatus are many and varied, and pretty much all boil down to laziness. The whole coming home and needing to socialise and job-hunt thing, combined with the all too satisfying feeling of being able to veg out on the couch for hours playing computer games, are the main culprits. I could almost end this post there, because that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing since I got home, but that would be boring. So here goes the high lights.

I had a slightly delayed birthday party in my second week back, of the usual garden party BBQ variety. Not all the people I had hoped would turn up did, but it was a pretty decent turn-out, and we had a nice time, I think. Everyone was late, except Chris, who was early. But that’s all normal. It was a night of good food, cake and drunken debauchery. Then we withdrew to the living room where there was more awesomeness to be had. Though it ended a bit earlier than I should have liked. Despite having enough sleeping space for half the party, no one stayed over, which also meant I had to do the cleaning myself the next day (as Morten was going to another garden party). But even though I’m bitching about it, it was still an awesome party, and I love all my friends who turned up. It was a great occasion to get to hang out with people I hadn’t seen in ages. And Chris made me a crown. It was really cool.

We’ve been out drinking quite a few times in the past month. Had a great night Sunday last week. Since Monday was a bank holiday, we figured it would be a good idea to have a night out. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so drunk in my life… It all went very quickly. We went grilling in the park first, so we didn’t start getting our drink on until around 10. I should probably not have had that second Long Island Ice Tea… Or those two shots of Sambucca. Oh well. Live and learn.

This weekend we celebrated Ingrid’s birthday, which was lots of fun. One of her friends made the most amazing After Eight cake! Oh my god, best cake ever!!! Brownie cake with mint glazing, om nom nom!!! There was talking and drinking and much awesomeness all around. Ingrid is cool. She’s studying acting, and I was lucky enough to catch her in her school’s performance of Peer Gynt. It was my first time seeing Peer Gynt, but it was Morten’s fifth, and he said it was a good production, so I’ll take his word for it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it or anything, but it’s a national treasure and all that, so people make higher demands to it than a lot of other plays.

For my international readers, Peer Gynt is a play written by Henrik Ibsen, who is considered one of the greatest Norwegian authors who ever lived. The play is often considered the epitome of Norwegian-ness. Mostly it’s just a really weird and fairly enjoyable story, and a lot more ironic than a lot of people realise. The title character is an anti-hero, who lies and cheats his way through life with the best of intentions, at least most of the time, and the play really messes with the stereotypical Norwegian figure and is not, as some think, a nationalistic or romantic piece, but rather a cynical play on how deeply flawed Ibsen considered Norwegian culture to be. Which is why it’s pretty funny that Peer Gynt is revered as oh so Norwegian and awesome.

On Saturday I went to the Medieval Festival with Jen, Chris and Martin, a ren fair type of deal with activities and costumes and lots of stalls where you can buy authentic clothing and armour and decorative weapons and all sorts of stuff. Last time I was there they had a jousting tournament. They didn’t have that this year, but they did have a field cannon, which they used in a reenactment of some battle or another that they showed.

I bought an awesome dress, which I will wear to next year’s Medieval Festival. Every time I go I find some awesome dress I really want, and then I feel like I don’t have money or something… So this year I just decided to go for it. Pretty neat, no?

I’ve been job hunting like crazy. I started appying for loads of kindergarten jobs as soon as I got home. I wrote myself a shiny new CV and nicely worded applications, but I wasn’t getting any response. Might have been because my lack of references. I e-mailed loads of people I’ve worked with, but no one responded, so I couldn’t really attach anyone’s name without their knowledge. What if they didn’t remember me? So I was starting to get worried, cause no one had called me in for an interview or anything. Not a single phone call, till last week. Tuesday they called me from the last kindergarten I’d applied to (I had sent in the application the Friday before, and that Monday was the aforementioned bank holiday, so they literally called me the moment they got my application) and asked if I wanted to come to an interview on Thursday. I said I’d love to.

The place was only 10 minutes away by bus, and the staff seemed friendly. West side kindergarten, though. Having worked on the East side a lot I was almost shocked at the lack of immigrant kids. All the kids that I saw were definitely European, probably almost all Norwegian. There really is a big difference.

We sat and chatted for a good half hour at least, and they seemed to like me. Asked me all sorts of questions like, when would I be able to start and if they were to offer me the position would I feel comfortable with making a decision straight away. I told them I could start whenever they wanted me to, and if they offered me the position I would say yes.

This morning they called me to offer me the position. I said yes.

So, this autumn I shall be working part time looking after kids between the ages of two and four, and taking up math and physics at Bjørknes. I didn’t do too well with math in school, and I never took physics. I’m doing this so I’ll be able to apply to study the Physics, Astronomy and Meteorology programme at the University of Oslo next year. I’m really fascinated with physics, and astronomy. If I fail at music, maybe I can be an astrophysicist.

Speaking of, I now officially have a Bachelor’s degree, with honours, in Popular Music. First class, too. I ended up with two A’s and three B’s. Got an A14 for my concert, but it got pulled down to a B13 due to that embarrassing presentation before Christmas. It happens. A B is still a really good grade, and this is the highest level of B.

Other than that, I have now officially moved in with Morten. I am a rent-paying resident. Well, I didn’t pay rent this month, but Morten owes me money and I’m basically broke until I can start my job (my mum is the awesomest mum ever as she’s given me a loan so I won’t starve and can contribute without dipping even deeper into my savings). Today the new signs for the mailbox and the buzzer arrived in the post, so now the postman will deliver my post to me and people can see that I live here. I like that. Makes it feel more proper. Like a real home.

So yeah. Mostly I’m happy.