Wednesday 17 September 2014

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy

For nogle uger siden skrev en af mine facebook-venner en status update der gik noget i retning af "ingen toiletpapir - farvel sokker". Det var da noget vildmandsagtigt tænkte jeg, og skrev en eller anden haha-kommentar.

Så kom der en hilsen i min indbakke. Det var åbenbart en af de der facebook-lege som kører et par runder hvert år - man skal skrive en eller anden kryptisk status update og på forunderlig vis vil det øge opmærksomheden omkring en eller anden form for kræft. Nu var det så meningen, at jeg skulle vælge mellem en håndfuld status updates - heriblandt "det er bekræftet, jeg skal være mor" og køre legen videre.

Som vi alle ved er jeg den sure dame, som også har brudt stort set samtlige brevkæder jeg i mit liv er blevet indlemmet i (det tør jeg godt, efter at jeg som 8-årig -ikke uden en vis bæven ved eksperimentet- erfor, at man faktisk ikke rammes af 5 dages sort uheld eller det der er værre), så den stoppede ligesom dér.

Fast forward til et par dage senere, hvor en veninde fortæller mig, at en anden veninde er GRAVID. Med ovenstående in mente vrissede jeg bare ad hende, at det tvivlede jeg da stærkt på, og jeg var i øvrigt også selv hoppet på den leg for et par dage siden. Hun så godt nok lidt desorienteret ud, men eftersom jeg lige havde lidt travlt på det tidspunkt tænkte jeg ikke nærmere over det.

Før senere samme dag, da jeg så havde en aftale med den omtalte fælles veninde. Og hun liiiige havde noget, hun gerne ville fortælle.

3 forsøg senere slog hun opgivende ud med armene. "Tine, du er simpelthen den kedeligste i hele verden at fortælle gode nyheder. Det er IKKE en internet joke!!!"

Øhm. Hvad? Hvad???

Nåmen - tillykke da. (Det krævede lige en drink - til mig, ikke den vordende moder - at komme så meget i balance at jeg kunne samle mig om at være rigtig glad på hendes vegne)


PS - jeg giver Internettet skylden. For alting.

@N ~ a couple of weeks ago one of my friends posted a status update which went a little something like this: "no toilet paper - goodbye, socks". Which I thought was kind of funny so I wrote a little ha-ha comment.

Turns out that it was one of those facebook games that do the rounds a couple of years here in Denmark - don't know if you guys have them as well, but you post some sort of cryptic status update and in ways I have yet to fathom, if enough people do it, it raises awareness of breast cancer or something like that.

And since I fell for it, hook line and sinker, I was now supposed to post a similarly cryptic status update. I could choose from a handful of pre-defined ones, including-but-not-limited-to "yes, I am pregnant" or something like that.

Needless to say, the grumpy lady who deletes every chain letter she ever receives (since warily testing it out at age 8 and finding that no, breaking the chain did not result in five days of bad luck) refused to play along, and so it ended there.

I thought.

A couple of days later, a friend happily told me that one of our mutual friends was pregnant. With my recent experience fresh in mind, I sulkily said to her that I very much doubted that and oh-by-the-way-I-fell-for-that-one-too.  She did look a bit confused, but as I was rather busy at the time she wisely did not press the subject and I forgot all about it.  Until later that very same day when I was meeting the aforementioned mutual friend, and she had some news she wanted to share.

Three attempts later, she said exasperatedly "Tine, you are the most boring person in the world to tell good news to. For the last time, it is NOT an internet joke!!!"

Ummmmm, begpardon?

One stiff drink later (for me, not the mother-to-be) I had regained my equilibrium sufficiently to actually believe it was true and wholeheartedly congratulate her.


I blame the Internet.
used to be only on April 1st I had to watch out grrrrrr



PS - does anyone else have good news to share?

PPS - I had to google the English version of what the angel says to the shepherds when it comes to proclaim the birth of Jesus. As a result, biblestudytools.com is now in my browser history. And if I type in "how to" in the google search field, it suggests "how to tie a tie", "how to make french toast" and "how to get rid of fruit flies". My browser has a more interesting life than I do, methinks.

PPPS - not related to this post at all: isn't Viggo the cutest guinea pig you ever saw?






Saturday 13 September 2014

#fridayreads

Forlaget Gyldendal har et ualmindeligt charmerende social media team, som hver eneste fredag tweeter noget i retning af "tid til #fredagsbog  -  hvad læser du i dag, og hvorfor er det så godt, så godt?"  - og så byder temmelig mange mennesker ind med hvad de læser i øjeblikket, så man kan blive lidt inspireret.

For mig er ikke alene #fredagsbog men i det hele taget #togbog en meget vigtig ting, eftersom jeg jo tilbringer lidt under en time på diverse perroner og i tog 2 gange om dagen, 5 dage om ugen. Så jeg slæber en del litteratur op og ned ad den østjyske længdebane i løbet af en arbejdsuge.

Jeg er ikke den eneste.  Således var jeg i fredags i selskab med

- Sådan bliver du rig på aktiemarkedet (mon der er et afsnit om Karma?)
- en kæmpe bog om bakterievækster, komplet med virkelig uappetitlige billeder (det var desværre min sidemand der læste den - visse ting har det med at ætse sig fast på den indre nethinde)
- samt Jumbobog 380 (hold op, er der virkelig kommet så mange??)

Billedet nederst er taget tidligere i år. Jeg blev mere end en lille smule forelsket i dette par, som læste Vinden i Piletræerne op for hinanden. Desværre skulle jeg af på næste station :-(

@ N ~ one of the Danish publishing houses, Gyldendal, has a weekly hashtag on Twitter called #fredagsbog - in the English speaking world known as #fridayreads. What's not to love :-)

For me, not just #fridayreads but #trainreads is a major thing. If I don't have a book with me on the train I am not a happy commuter (instead I manically stalk all my friends on facebook, annoyed at how few updates there are at 630AM...)

On the train, most people either sleep, work on their laptops, or are glued to their smartphones. But there are quite a few readers as well.

Last Friday I found myself in good company. In my little group of four seats, I was in the distinguished company of:

- "How to get rich on the stock market" (I hope it has a chapter on Karma)
- a huge book about, judging by the unsavoury illustrations, the growth of bacteria (unfortunately it was the guy sitting right next to me who was reading that one. Some things just can't be un-seen....)
- and "Jumbobog" number 380 ("Jumbo books" are pocket books with Donald Duck and other Disney cartoons. They're not published in England or America as far as I know. I think I stopped reading around the time number 100 was published (had most of them for a while - the first ones are probably collectors' items if they're in good condition, but needless to say, mine aren't))

The picture below was taken on the sly earlier this year. I fell a little bit in love with this couple who was reading "The Wind in the Willows" aloud to each other - sadly, I had to get off at the next station :-(



Tuesday 2 September 2014

Work in progress

They've put scaffolding up, they've removed half the (remaining) roof, they're fixing the structural damage. Soon as they're done, my Executive Office will be behind that window. Pic taken this eve from my bedroom window. Yay!


Ups

"Ja, jeg kom lige til at køre igennem Hedensted. Det beklager jeg. Vi kører tilbage til perronen om et øjeblik"

-lokomotivfører i højttalerne efter at han lige missede et stop. Jamen det gik jo lige så godt derudaf!! :-)