Road to Oslo

We just went to Oslo, Norway, to get my passport renewed. The last 3 days have been absolutely action packed. I am currently on a 6 and a half hour train journey home, so I think now is probably the most appropriate time to catch you all up on current goings on.

We got up at 6:30am on Thursday the 21st of Feb 2013 (to be specific) to get our train, and we left Oslo at 16:00 on Saturday the 23 of Feb 2013 (to be the exact same level of specific), so pretty much everything in this blog is going to be between those times. I'll do my best to keep it as accurate as possible.

We basically packed up the night before our trip began and made some food for the road so that we could just get up and roll out on the departure day. Editors Note: Danger Zone by Kenny Logins just came on Spotify, that song is so cool, but not for blogging! I feel like I should fly a jet, not write a blog. Yeah, so we packed up and Emz decided she needed a fully packed suitcase for these 3 days, and I just grabbed a backpack and a small case to carry my shit. The backpack was FULL of food. We were prepared for a month on that train. Well, maybe 2 days more so than a month, but it was still a lot of food for a 6 and a half hour trip.

We left bright and early on Thursday morning and got ready to go. We were both pretty damn tired. I'm the kind of person who thinks of 11am as early, so 6:30am shouldn't even exist on the clock. Nobody needs 6:30am. We got to the station, hopped on the train and basically just listened to some dude snore incredibly loud for most of the journey. It was a good trip, all the same.

We got the the Hotel around 3:30pm that day and just threw our stuff in, lay down for a while and then went in search of food. We stayed in the Anker Hotel. It was a wonderful hotel that was pretty nice and had almost everything we needed. However, the street the hotel was on was the biggest shit hole. It's as if all the crime and drugs in Oslo decided to take a stroll down that fucking street. It was wild. The hotel itself was so classy and amazing, so it was a pretty weird mix.

We went in to a mall and immediately some guy attempted to steal my camera. I thankfully happened to look around and I saw him as he was going for my bag and he panicked and went off in a different direction. 30 seconds more and I may not of been so lucky.

We continued our search for food and decided to go to Karl Johann Plass, which is apparently a street you just HAVE to see in Oslo. We failed to find it, so we went to some small local place and just got some pretty normal food and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Friday, oh wow. OH WOW. We walked so much! Basically we got up at 8 and went for breakfast and then head off for the Austrian Embassy and got the paperwork out of the way for my passport. Some of the files were missing but I was lucky that I got such a nice person who helped me a lot. In the end we got everything done and I think everything was all clear, but I'll find out soon enough. Hopefully I'll be legally allowed to leave the country within the next few weeks!

It's Rabbit Season, Bitch!

We finished up there at about 11 and then we went to this HUGE park that was close by. It was called Vigelands park, I think. It had the most amazing statues I've ever seen. So, so, so, so many statues! I hope I have enough space to show off some of the pictures. It was amazing. There was a bridge covered in statues and at the end of the bridge was a fountain held up by statues and then at the top of the hill behind it was a pillar made of (and surrounded by) statues. It was insane.

We left that park between 12-12:30 and hopped in a cab and went to the Natural History Museum, where I got to live out a childhood dream. We got there and checkout out the first building which was just FILLED with stuffed animals in different situations. It was creepy and weird, but I'm still happy I saw it. There was a definitely a sense of humour in the place. Some of the animals and picture opportunities were pretty amazing. If you want to see some of the crazy places I managed to stick my head, check out Emily's blog post on it. We also found out Slash was playing that night with Myles Kennedy but it was sold out. I was PISSED.

After that building we went across to their other building, which was far more.. me! The first thing you see when you walk in is a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. It was INCREDIBLE. I've ALWAYS wanted to see one up close. I can only imagine that it was a young T-rex, as the skeleton was not as big as I had expected, and it was not as big as the ones you see in some of the more famous museums, that's for sure. It's well worth seeing, though. They have a really impressive library after the skeleton, which was pretty cool. Up the stairs is coated in skeletons, skulls and fossils. It was amazing.

In the rooms upstairs they have a replica skeleton of a dinosaur which is cool. Far more impressive, however, is Ida. Ida is a monkey fossil that is 47 million years old. Darwinius is a genus within a group of primates from the Eocene epoch. Ida is the only known fossil of this particular species, which is incredible. A paper was released a few years back that basically claims that Ida is the missing link in human evolution. She is a step that helps see the link between humans and monkeys, which is insane.

This is Ida

In the other rooms are some amazing things, too. There are rocks from Mars and the Moon and there are a lot of horse bones and then a few more dinosaur bones. It was amazing. I think it was 50Kr to get in, which is absolutely nothing. It was so cheap! It was amazing, and so informative. I highly recommend visiting there. We bought a gift in the gift shop for my mother, which I can't talk about much since she doesn't know yet, but the people in the gift shop told us what it was, how it was used in history and wrote a little note, too. It was a very personal visit, and the staff are incredibly helpful. It was amazing.

We wanted to see the botanical garden that was surrounding the Natural History Museum but unfortunately it was completely covered in snow, so we skipped that for this trip. We walked to Karl Johann Plass and took a look around. We visited a few places and saw a few different things, just general tourist shopping. I got my first Hard Rock Café t-shirt, which is amazing. I got Emily a Hard Rock charm bracelet and I'll pick her up a different charm at each Hard Rock we visit.

We basically spent 2 hours there and then just grabbed food and brought it back to the hotel. On the way back we passed a sign for Biffy Clyro playing in Oslo and I casually noticed the date and said "ah well, it's on the 22nd of Feb" and then Emz and I took about 5 more steps and just paused and looked at each other with a stunned expression as we both realised that was the date. It was almost hilarious because we did that whole progression in unison and it was almost like a sitcom. Unfortunately we just could not afford it. I feel like my finger is way off the pulse in the music scene when I don't know my favourite bands (Slash ft. Myles Kennedy) show up in Oslo and the next night one of Emz favourite bands show up and we had no idea either were even playing in Norway. It's crazy.

We stayed in for the rest of the evening and just watched some stuff on my laptop and ordered a pizza. We walked about 13km that day. We traveled way more, but I didn't include the cab journeys on Endomondo tracker. Endomondo is a great sports tracker. I use it for stuff like this to know how far I went and how many calories I burned and shit. It's pretty motivating to keep working out when you see your progress. It also has a bitchin' map feature which means I can see which was we went, too. My favourite feature is that it doesn't need 3G or anything. It means I can use it while I travel without it eating in to my roaming or anything. I use it pretty much daily, though. I use it to track general activities and work. It seems more rewarding to actually see how much I've done after I've done it. It's a nice feeling to see you've gone 12km in such a short time, for example.

Today we got up, had breakfast and high-tailed it for luggage storage in the train station. We wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible to fit everything in, but we also had incredibly limited time. We went to check out the new Opera House after the luggage dump. Talk about going from one dump to another. That place looked like modern art rolled through and took a massive shit, which then resulted in that building. Norwegians LOVE their modern art, but I think some things are better left to the classics. It has modern and experiments sound technology and acoustics which is incredible from a sound engineering point of view. But from an "I'm looking at this building" point of view, it hurts my head.

We bailed from the modern eyesore and headed straight through Karl Johann Plass and up to the King's Castle (which is actually not a castle). I think it's actually called the Royal House and we were misinformed. It was a stunning building and you could see right up Karl Johann Plass from there which was incredible to see. You could see over the buildings and see some pretty amazing and incredible stuff from the view.

The most impressive part of all this is that I got to hang out with a giant lego man. I'm sure that's a childhood dream come true! When I was a kid I wanted to be a cartoon character, and I'm sure at some point I also wanted to be a Lego man. I love Lego. I STILL love Lego. I'm pretty sure that's why I have such a fondness for Minecraft. It reminds me of my old Lego building days.

I love this dude!

Danger Zone just came on again. Spotify needs to sort out the shuffle feature. Anyway, yeah. We made it back in some record time. It took 25-30 minutes to get there and 10-15 to get back. I'm not sure how we managed that, but we did! It was amazing. Editors note: I just threw a grape across the table and got it in Emz mouth. Fucking. Epic. 

We got back in time and the train wasn't quite there yet so we grabbed some food. My wonderful mother sent some "Coffee" money to my Irish account so Emz and I could grab a coffee. She always does really nice things like that! Thankfully she did because Emz the Treasurer had major bank malfunctions today which meant I had to buy food and shit for the train, which is fine usually but since my passport expired AND my tax card expired (and I can't get a tax card without a passport) I haven't been paid in a few months, which isn't so bad because people are helping me and I'm going to give it back the second I get paid, but it meant that without Mum's help today, we would of been starving. I'm a bit of a hunger Hulk. You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry.

Anyway, that pretty much catches up to now. I finished this blog ages ago but the internet disconnected and my browser froze and it hadn't saved in a while, which sucks so much. But, I think I got everything back in here again, so worry not my little Ken-panions. Ken-panions, get it? Companions? Ken-panions? SHUT UP, IT'S FUNNY!

So yeah, in the typical fashion of my blog I will end this with a quote. This quote hails from Norway, but I translated it for you lovely people. If you think I should visit somewhere else on my travels, let me know! I'm always excited to go to more culturally advanced places. If you have any ideas, hit me up in the comments! I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to offer me, world. Take it easy!

A Thousand Words Will Not Leave So Deep And Impression

As One Deed

- Henrik Ibsen

Kencraft

I've literally been hooked on Minecraft for the last 2 months. It's probably the most fun I've ever had in a game! We've started a show on YouTube where we basically just play the game and record it and just upload it. It's pretty straight forward but it's a lot of fun.

Beyond that there has been a lot happening since the last post. We've moved.. again.. We now live in Emz mom's old apartment, which is a little bit weird. The place is nice, though. I LOVE the view from there. It has been snowing a lot lately, which is really nice. This morning I woke up and it was so damned sunny. I'm pretty sure all the snow has gone, which is a total shame. Emz made an awesome snow angel just before Christmas, though. That was cool! It was a good Christmas here. I hope it was for you guys, too! Lots of gift giving and trying to stay warm. Fun times!

While we were moving I took out my back by lifting some heavy boxes. It has been a seriously shit few days, so this was just the icing on the cake. I got AdSense for KJBcast and it was going fine for the better part of the last two months until I suddenly got an email cutting us off. I'm not really sure why and they won't explain. They also kept the money, which was a little bit annoying. I'm currently trying to appeal it but it's getting us nowhere, unfortunately. The most annoying part is that I don't think we did anything wrong. This all came out of the blue.

My three legged cat has gone blind, which is just crazy. I haven't been home since I got here in October, so I'm a little bit home sick. Finding out that Suki (tripod, three legged cat) has not been doing so well has not been helping. I miss Evie (dog), too! She's just barrels of entertainment. My amazing turtle has been refusing to dock for whatever reason, too. It's been a weird few months for the animals back home.

Work has been shit here. There is nothing to do. I'm basically just sitting on my ass all day, which was fine when AdSense was paying me for it but now it just doesn't seem worth it. I worked really hard on the page until AdSense cut us off, and now it seems to be worthless. I'm just not motivated any more. I really wanted to page to work out, but when it's in the process of getting blacklisted by Google it makes things a little bit difficult. I genuinely have no idea what we did, but it's so frustrating.

There are some other jobs available, but I don't speak norwegian, have a car or know the area. This all makes it a little bit more difficult to get a job. There are some seriously shit jobs available, which I may need to consider. All bullshit jobs that you work heavy hours in for very little pay.

We went to an aquarium here in Bergen the other day, which was so damned awesome.

They had a huge variety of animals, which was cool. They had seals, sharks, a monkey (for some reason), turtles, fish, sea lions, alligators, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and more. It's practically a small zoo, but they seem to use the label aquarium.

Anyway, that and some other random stuff has happened, but this update is long enough as it is. I'll catch you up on more at some point! Hope all has been going better for you. Feel free to tell me ALLLLL about your lives in the comments below. I'll make sure to read them! It only seems fair. Take care.

Never tell your problems to anyone

20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them

- Lou Holtz

Wiener

I am a huge Wiener. That's right, I'm a tall Austrian citizen (Seriously). I'm starting a campaign here and now to make it so that all Austrian citizens should be called Wieners. Vienna is "Wien" in several languages. Makes sense. "FREE THE WIENERS!" They'd say, if the Austrian's were being held prisoners. But what are the odds of that happening... again?

So, why all this talk of Austria? Well, I'm going there. Now, as a matter of fact. I'm sitting in Bergen airport with an hour to kill, so blogging really was my only choice. I've got a busy few days ahead! We land at around 10pm or something, so there is no real events (other than flying..twice..) going on today. Tomorrow, however, I have a date with the most beautiful girl in the world. 

I don't know if I'll invite Emily or not (just kidding, it's totally with her.. don't kill me when you read this..). There'll be some sight seeing and such! I'm picking up my concert tickets for Muse.. oh.. AND MY PRESS PASS!.. That's right, I've gotten myself a handy little press pass for the event.

Monday we really only have Muse and maybe a little local sight-seeing. We'll wing it. Tuesday we're going to the stables of the Lipizzaner Stallions so Emz can fulfil some childhood fantasy of actually being near a famous horse (I'm sure that's not really it, but hit up her blog for more info).

Tuesday... I actually have no clue. Then wednesday we come home! I'll already be back when you read this, though. 

I'm blogging the whole time, too. It'll all be one long adventure in the Wien. Anywho, better get cracking.. I've got a whooooole... 45 MINUTES?! DAMNIT!!! I thought this would kill more time. Well, I've got a whole 44 minutes and 43 seconds to kill, so... I had better get right on that!

Day 1: So far the airline lost our luggage (both suitcases), our hotel does not have wifi, my 3G does not work as promised and Emz lenses case was in the suitcase. So, we walked around Vienna at 2am looking for a 24 hour pharmacy just so we could get her some solution and a new protective case. Crazy!

Day 2: Our suitcases were found, hurrah! huzzah! other-ah! Also, my 3G now works, too. So, they're delivering the cases now and I think everything appears to be back in order. Breakfast was also awesome. When the suitcases come in, I think we're going out for dinner. Cannot wait!

Day 3: We went shopping. Oh god. The shopping. So many things! None of it mine! Emz went crazy a little bit. But she's so happy, so it's worth it. Little bit of a chill out session now and then we head to the venue to get my press pass for Muse.

Day 4: The concert was incredible. EVERYTHING is just incredible! I got right up to Muse and I got to take so many good photos. I'm so happy! Today we went to the Spanish Riding School, which is primarily where the Lipizzaner stallions are. We got a tour and to see some training, which was amazing. Then we took a trip through Vienna on a horse drawn carriage. I've never been in one before, so this was awesome and amazing and new! That photo is at the very top, then the third photo down is Emz with the horses. They raided her pockets for treats. I do that from time to time, too. She never has sugar cubes!! She sometimes offers me carrots, but fuck that. SUGAR CUBES. (Note: I don't actually eat sugar cubes)

Day 5: We checkout out of the hotel today! It was pretty depressing. I'm going to miss the sights and smells and sounds. We're currently 10 minutes from boarding the plane to Frankfurt (which will then require us to get another plane to take us to Bergen). It's a 2 hour flight, for whatever reason. I'm currently contacting every one possible about press passes for more concerts. I've tasted the sweet nectar that is the music business. There is no going back. Well, time to pack up. TO BERGEN! 

We sat in the car for ages telling Emz mom about the trip. Emz mom had parked outside the bank below our apartment so long that the police showed up. 

So, that was our Austrian vacation! It was pretty damn amazing! Words cannot describe how amazing it was. So much more happened than what I've even been able to blog about, but I think this is long enough! For a sneak peek at some more Muse photos from the concert you can see them on Facebook here, but only on the condition that you "like" them. I need as many likes as I can get! Don't be afraid of over-liking, either. The more, the better! You can also see a video of the crowd waiting for Muse here. I got it just before the show, while I was at the stage.

Ok so that's my blog for now. Not sure when I'll blog again, but hang in there! It'll come soon! Much love to you all. Take care!

I like music because it makes me feel the most free I've ever felt in my entire life 

and gives me the freedom to do anything without much consequence

- Dominic Howard, Muse

(A huge lack of) Inspiration

Having a huge lack of inspiration. I feel like Norway should inspire me, but instead I have the same lack of motivation that I did in Ireland. I'm pushing for the website, but that's taking all my concentration and effort. I guess we'll just see how it goes as time goes on. Maybe I'm still adjusting. Maybe I'm just tired! It has been a long few weeks

I've worked the last few days so I haven't blogged so much. I've been a little bit tired, too. I've made money though so.. y'know.. YUSS! I'm currently showing Emz the Nightmare Before Christmas. She hasn't seen it before, so I figure it is appropriate. It is Halloween in 2 days and I have 0 plans and no inspiration to dress up.

Work has been pretty awesome. I've done nothing of major importance in the grand scale of things, but it's fun to meet new people and do new things. It's always good! We've got our tickets to Vienna, Austria, next month to see Muse. It will be the first time we see them performing the Second Law live.
I skipped a week of blogging due to a huge lack of anything happening. I haven't worked, I haven't done anything besides watch a shit tonne of movies and TV.

KJBcast got invited to some pretty slick VIP party for Halo 4's launch, but I can't go due to being in Norway. Emz favourite band's bassist tweeted his location and it was 20 minutes from our old house. Seems that all the good shit happens when we leave.

I think I'm going to have to change up this blog. Not feeling the whole journal thing. Not sure what else to blog about, though. Hitman: Absolution comes out this month and I couldn't be more excited. Hopefully it'll be good. I've played every Hitman game. I've been playing them for years! I got my PS2 with Hitman 2 with it and I fell in love with the game series and followed it since then. I am truly excited to see how they change the game up and make it better.

Still no work. Things are moving slowly. Still just hanging out due to a lack of funding. Hopefully my next blog will be far far more interesting! Emz got her tickets to Lana Del Rey this morning and we're going to see Muse in Vienna in roughly 2 weeks. By then there should be something of value and interest, at least!

I went to Garage last night. This is a (sort of) metal club in Norway. It was cool! I also saw Apollo. It's a music store that is also a bar. It's quite unique and a little weird, but in a good way.

Anyway, sorry for the boring blog. It has been a dull two weeks! I'll make it up to you when something of value or interest happens! Until then, take it easy!

Always and Never are two words

you should always remember never to use

Life in the City of Rain

So I started work the other day. I got an emergency text from Emz's Mom saying that she needed extra hands to help set up. That was my time to shine! I got there as quickly as I could and work began. We started upstairs and set up a load of seats and then went downstairs to a car park. There were already a team assembling a floor or some sort and laying it down and we started putting down chairs and tables. By the end, it looked like it did in the picture. It was pretty awesome. I already got more work for later today and now that I have my foot in the door, more work is sure to follow! Beyond that, things are pretty quiet. I think Emz is seeing her friend Jenny later, but I'll be in a mini-coma from work. I'll do my usual. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook, play a game, Facebook, watch TV.

All I see is chairs. That car park behind all those chairs is the same car park from the photo above. Just a lot emptier.

Stone Sour's new album dropped yesterday. It is so good! All That Remains have a new album soon too. Great time for music! I've been so fortunate to meet so many of my idols in the past few years, and see so many more of them live. I've had a beer with Oli Herbert from All That Remains, I've discussed boxing with Phil Anselmo from Pantera and Down, I've met Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom but he was a douche-sack. I've got so many autographs at home, too. I've met Ozzy Osbourne, Black Stone Cherry, Down, Amon Amarth, Moonspell, Sabaton and loads more. I caught plecs at so many concerts, too. Stone Sour, All That Remains, Moonspell's guitarist gave me a plec and I have more too.

This is my autograph frame, but it's gotten much more in it now but it's the only photo I have and it's back in Ireland right now. For some reason I'm pretty lucky on twitter, too. I've been tweeted by Tommy Lee (Motley Crue, Methods of Mayhem and his solo stuff) 4 times (Emz say's we're friends now), Mark Tremonti (Tremonti, Alter Bridge), Kevin Smith favourited one of my tweets, Jason Mewes (Jay from Jay & Silent Bob) has sent me a private message with his Xbox gamertag on it, and I met him last year with Emz. I have a tonne more experiences than that, but those stand out the most. I've been incredibly lucky when it comes to my favourite bands and people. I've had a lot of great experiences. I've gotten to see so many of my favourite bands live too, but I won't rattle off that list too. It'd take weeks!

That's Oli Herbert, my Friend Chrissi and I! What a great night! Chrissi must be one of the coolest people I have ever met. This stands in even higher regard since one of my favourite guitarists is actually in that picture, too!

This week has been hectic. I've been working every day except today (Saturday). So far I've made a lot of money and done a lot of work. My body is in pain, but it's so awesome. It's good to be active again! I love the work, too. It's good. The people are cool and the work is extremely gratifying. It's so awesome to see everything when it's finished. I've developed "Working Hands" as you can see in the picture below. That's more dirt than dark haha. It was a busy day, though.

I have work again tomorrow, and then the future is as dark as my hands. But, if current work situations continue the way they have been, I'll have plenty of work! Here's hoping, anyway!

I've been listening to a lot of random music lately. Obviously Stone Sour since I JUST got their album, but I've been listening to a YouTube band called "Sea of Trees". They're good. A metal band with 2 people in it. They're recording a full length now, I think. If you like metal, check them out. They're good! YamiRyan is the youtube channel, I think.

Beyond that, nothing of major value is going on. It's Ole's (Emz Dad) Birthday on Monday. We got him some cool stuff. We replaced his broken picture uploader for his iPad. We also got him something else WAY more awesome, but it's not here yet so I cannot say what. I'll tell you next blog, if I remember!

I was absolutely starving in work the other day. I brought two pieces of bread, because I was only SUPPOSED to work 4 hours. I had skipped breakfast because it was early. I was 7 hours in to work and Emz shows up with Burger King. BURGER KING! She is one in a million.

Today was a nice easy day in work. We set up a few hundred seats and tables for a buffet and we had to remove all the stuff that was there first. That whole area in the back that looks like a stripped wall is actually a whole section with SO many seats. There are 20 seats per row and there are maybe 10 rows. Could be 8. So we had to take that down. It took 2 hours to get all that done. I've worked 17 hours already. It's not so much, but the pay is awesome so I'm happy with it! Drinks on me come payday!

Emz is currently about to bake cupcakes for Ole for his birthday (which is tomorrow). We have to be up early to get things done so it'll be sort of a long day, but hopefully a good one! We are going to try pick him up a Daim Bar cake. It is apparently tradition for him to have this on his birthday.

Norway has been busy! This was the tram this morning at around 10 when we were heading in to town. It was actually crazy! There are seats for SO many people on this thing, and the whole thing was full from front to back and it seemed like people were only getting on.

The weather here is amazing. It's so sunny but all the trees are orange, red and yellow. It's incredible to walk down the street when there are hundreds of trees everywhere.

Today we discussed fear. What do we fear, why do we fear it and how do we overcome it. Emily is afraid of anything. Spiders, Moths, Things hanging in the dark that might resemble a person. She screamed at a bucket of crabs yesterday. Not like the "old man yells at cloud" kind of scream, but she got a fright and just screamed.

I'm not sure what I'm afraid of. Emz literally spent an hour asking me about all these things whilst trying to figure out my fears. Beyond the obvious one (Death) there wasn't really anything else. I read somewhere that there is a phobia of kneecaps. I think when I read this, all my fears just went away. A crippling fear of kneecaps just seems so stupid to me, that nothing else seems scary.

Horror films never had much of an effect on me. I find them to be more like something I could identify with. People always have a darkness inside them, and if put under enough pressure they can snap. I'm always so fascinated by the crazy, insane and villainous in movies, comics, games and even reality.  I don't know what it is about the crazy, but at most times they make the most sense. There are ones that are just out of their minds, but they just fascinate me more. I always want to understand the things I just don't understand, especially about the human mind.

The nature is incredible here at the moment. However, I spent all day today just laying around and sorting out my clothing and unpacking. I've also spent ages working on KJBcast. I'm trying to get the daily hits back up. My month away from the internet lost the page about 100 views a day, which is terrifying and irritating. Building up a following isn't easy. It's fun, though. I'm also working on an app for the page, but I haven't done anything with that in a while. When iOS 6 came in to the equation I just stopped because it was so much hassle trying to reconfigure everything, and the advertisements were so irritating. I use Xcode, which is a fantastic way to code and program. It's the easiest way I've come across so far.

Emz made some awesome cupcakes for her Dad for his birthday and now they're all gone. It's so sad! They were amazing.

I'm not really sure what we're doing for halloween this year. I'm probably going to give it a miss. Funding isn't optimal until payday and I'm not really a social creature as it is. I think this'll be the first halloween that I don't dress up! I don't think it's celebrated here much anyway. I haven't actually heard anyone mention it yet. I guess I'll see what's happening when it's closer! Next post is the day before Halloween, perhaps everything will change by then! Anyway, time to log off. Have a good week! Thanks for reading!

The minute I stopped caring what other people thought and started doing what I wanted 

was the minute I felt free

- Phil Dunphy

Modern Family

Fight or Flight or Drive

Day 1 and I broke my promise. This is day 2. I was tired to the maxxxxxx yesterday, so I'm blogging to make up for 2 days today! Not that it matters, you won't read this until next week and by then it'll be out dated. Take that, society.

So.. we flew in to Norway yesterday. Y'know, as ya do. Our first flight was delayed and our second flight was super delayed. It was one of THOSE days. I miss Mum and the pets like crazy. I had such a good week there! We just watched TV and slept on the flight, so nothing really interesting there. 

We had a good time in the airports, though! I think the picture on the left was in Dublin Airport. It is huge. It's stunning! It was once all pencil, but I assume it is some form of ink or a copy now. Copenhagen Airport is always fantastic. I'm a member of their Wifi club, so I always have internet there. It's awesome. The plane delays were all sent straight to my phone through their app and came up as a push notification, which is pretty amazing. Copenhagen Airport is a stunning place. They're setting up a Victoria's Secret there, so Emz is super excited to go back. They've got a Lego shop, so I'm always happy to be there! Their architecture is just incredible. The picture below is of the place where we waited for our flight.

Emz mom picked us up in her new car, then we went to Emz dad's place and said goodbye to him, as he is gone for the next few days. So we're in the apartment getting settled by ourselves. This consists of TV, sleep and food. Good times! 

Since we've landed it has rained non-stop, but this city is known well for it's rain and such. So no surprises weather wise. I thankfully packed for the worst weather, so I'm cool with it. I generally like the rain. ESPECIALLY when I'm not in it!

I love Emz dad's apartment. It's a beautiful place and it's right next to a supermarket and the tram that takes you directly in to the city. It's amazing. 

As you can see by this picture, our second flight wasn't exactly huge. I had to store my carry-on luggage under the plane. I've never had to do that before! The plane was tiny. 2 seats per row and I couldn't stand up right. My head was against the top of the plane. 

I picked up my carry on luggage as I was getting off the plane and I got our many many suitcases after that. 

It was a great day to fly, though. Minor fog and mild turbulence but the rest was pretty damn good! The next few photos are of the flights and of the luggage, but I will probably stop writing now! I'll continue tomorrow. Not that it matters, you won't read this until next week! 

Borderlands 2 is insanely amazing. I wish I had more time to play it! I've clocked so few hours with that game. It deserves more! I need someone to play it with, though. I feel like I'm so far behind. My friend Eoin and I spent a weekend playing (and clearing) Borderlands 1. We spent way more hours than that just playing but this was a weekend dedicated to the completion of that game. Now I have Borderlands 2 and moved away. Whenever I play it by myself I feel a little bit like I am cheating on him! That's not enough guilt to make me stop playing or anything, but still! I got my new character yesterday, but haven't had a chance to try her out. I also just found out that there is a new DLC pack next week! That's really exciting. I wish I could afford the Season Pass so I didn't have to buy them individually way later (which will in turn cost more) but I need absolutely every cent for Norway.

Everything is so expensive here. I'm almost afraid to leave the house! I fear the cost of living here is going to be far more extreme than I had originally planned. It won't be a problem once I start working but so far it's a no go on the work front. It is only day 2 and I do have a job, there's just no work going right this second! I'm hoping that'll change soon, though. Money is needed so insanely much!

I have a theory that if I won the Lotto I would just be the poorest rich guy ever. There is so much that I want, and so much more that I want to do! Everything is just so expensive. If I won the Lotto, I know I would have a fantastic year! I'd get a car (Dodge Viper) and a house (Anywhere) with a bathroom by the bedroom and a window from the kitchen to the living room (other features too, but those are a MUST). I'd get another dog. I adore Evie but I really want a German Sheppard. Besides, Evie is my Mom's dog. I want to buy an insane amount of property and build a few houses on it where I can have my friends and family come and live there. Low rent, of course. Rent is needed just to make sure I don't go super broke after building this Utopia, but it would be so little that you could afford it no matter what.

I would build a studio underneath my house and I'd build a gaming room somewhere in there too. I've designed many a house in the Sims that I wish I owned, but even in the Sims I couldn't afford it for very long.

We went to a factory yesterday with loads of graffiti in it. That was pretty awesome! It's the best horror setting I've ever been in. It was pretty damn awesome. It was an old paint factory. There were burned out electrical units, giant paint spinners and so much more. It's pretty damn awesome. There were so many that I loved but if you really want to see them you'll have to find me on Instagram (@RoperSeiler). I'll upload them soon! I'll post my favourite one below! Let me know what you think in the comments section and if you see my Instagram, feedback me!

I really like when Graffiti and Street Art is clever. This is really well done! Unfortunately a lot of the amazing art in the factory was covered up by taggers. It's so senseless to me to wreck an amazing piece of art by writing a name over it.

Tomorrow we are going to a group of people driving vintage cars and we're going to drive up north with a huuuuge group of them. Since they will all be Beetle cast, I call it a swarm.

I'll make sure to take as many photos as I can and I'll post them for you all! Hopefully it will be fun! Emz is quite sick at the moment, so there is a chance that we may not go. But time will tell!

So yesterday we went out with Emz and her Grandfather. He is such a cool man! He knows everything about everything and has worked in a billion different places doing such different things. It was such an honour to meet him as I've heard so much about him over the last year and a half. He's a really nice guy. His Beetle was awesome! That's it in the picture, behind Emz and her Grandfather. We met up with a load of people driving 24 other Beetles and we all went in a convoy (or a swarm as I call it) up North to a museum for vintage cars.  It was so extremely awesome! As I said before, check my Instagram for more pictures! It felt awesome being in a Beetle. No seatbelt in the back, though. Safety didn't matter for backseat drivers, I guess!

This was the car in front of us for most of the drive. We stopped for Pizza somewhere. They had ordered it a few days prior to the drive so it would be ready, but it wasn't ready. We carried on driving and followed a replica of Herbie for the rest of the way. It was so fantastically awesome seeing Norway and driving with a group of Beetles (still a swarm) because every time we passed any people they would just stop what they were doing and their eyes would get so wide and they'd smile and be happy to just see so many of the same breed of car. It was amazing! People seemed to just love seeing all the old cars driving around. I certainly did, anyway! It was an incredible experience. Certainly one I won't soon forget (thanks to the blog)!

Today I set up my bank account and did all the nonsense of moving. I'm (sort of) registered now and such. I just have to renew my passport before January and I'm sorted. However, the Austrian embassy is in Oslo (8 hours from Bergen, where I am) which means I need to take a trip to sort out all my legal what-have-you to get organised. That should be fun! I still have yet to see Emz mom or friends because Emz has been sick, so we're doing as little as possible until she feels better. You should pop over to her blog and wish her well! You know.. when you're done here. Besides that, I think my week is pretty much done. I completed Borderlands 2, I'm kicking ass in Simpsons: Tapped out and the website is picking up speed again. Huzzah!

So this is the day I post the blog. It is insanely long now. Maybe I should of just made it bi-weekly! Borderlands 2 DLC came out today. HUZZAH! Whilst trying to find my Xbox hard drives I noticed they were missing. I didn't leave them in Ireland and they are not here. When we received our luggage I noticed that my clothing had been messed with and we had brought some tea with us and the boxes had been opened, so I figured they just needed to check that. Now I realised that those things are missing, so my finger is pointing at SAS. I contacted them regarding it, but have yet to hear back. Today has been alive for roughly 2 hours and it has all been shit so far. I'm hoping things improve soon! Anyway, time for the quote and what-have-you. Thanks for checking in! (Especially if you read the whole thing!)

When life gives you lemonade, make lemons.

Then life will be all like "whaaat?"

- Phil Dunphy 

That One Time I Did Something!

In accordance with my previous blog, I will only be blogging on a weekly basis now! I think the best possible time to do this is actually on Tuesday since we're moving to Norway this coming Tuesday. Weekly blogs starting on moving day. Makes sense! That way I will be blogging as of the moment I arrive until the moment I leave. If I blog when I get back I will be surprised. Enjoy me while you can, people!

We hit up the storage unit today. Second last day doing that! Crazy. Moving day is so close! I am half excited, half nervous, half upset about moving! My many halves are combined in to a grumpy cookie. I have no real idea how I feel about moving. I'm excited for some parts, and not excited for others. But I'll be with Emz, so it'll be fine! Also, my destiny does not approve of me having €3 today.

It's officially 2 days until we head to Norway. I'll already be there by the time you've read this, but still. IT"S 2  DAYS! That's crazy. I'm not sure how to react to things like this! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! I'm looking forward to work. That's going to be fun! I'm really excited to spend more time with Emz dad. He's always really nice and cool. He knows an insane amount about graffiti. I'm extremely excited to see some of the graffiti and street art that Norway has to offer.

Last time we were there I saw some amazing things when it came to street art. My favourite is small, but effective. It's an incredible piece. The picture I am referring to is (obviously not the Norwegian flag), it is below!

I love the fact that it is faded. For some reason that just makes the picture 10 times more compelling than if it was a completed piece. I'm not sure why, though. It just makes it look old. It makes it look like there is a story to tell!

Beyond the world of 2 days from now, we are going to say goodbye to my Granny and Dad and his Girlfriend and her Daughter today! That sounds more confusing than it is.. kinda.. They live about 5 minutes walk from my moms house now, so it makes it a lot easier to get to! They lived in Bray until we moved there for a month, then they moved to Killiney where we are staying now. I hope they don't move to Norway now or it'll seem like we're just following them around!

Wow, so this is it! D-day! Moving to Norway. I'm officially flying out in 11 hours from now. Crazy! This pile-o-disks is my xbox game collection. I got a whopper CD case today and sorted them out (alphabetically) and have now got them perfectly together. Crazy carry on. I didn't realise I had so many! I knew I had loads but this is insane.

I stupidly forgot one of my favourite games was in a different box, so now it is in the storage unit for the next 10 months. Dumbass I be! Batman: Arkham City, I will be back for you! I was at the unit today but I didn't realise until it was far far too late. ARGH! I know it's just one game, but it's THE game! I'm playing Borderlands 2 a lot right now, so I guess it's ok!

I put my name in to work with PS! Crew Bergen again. Hopefully I can get some work (and money) and fund my time there in Bergen. I love working for PS! Crew. They're fantastic!

I have started questioning my halloween plans this year. Halloween is the single greatest holiday ever created. There is a new Treehouse of Horror (Simpsons), there are old horror movies on TV (not that I watch much TV) and everyone tries their best to be something else. It's so much fun.

Favourite horror creature? I liked Vampires until it became the weirdest thing ever. Vampires used to be amazing. I LOVE the whole Frankenstein story. That's a fantastic one. I really like Dracula and the Wolfman too. Werewolves are overused a lot in modern horror so that fascination died down too. I like the classics, or originality. The classics are fantastic stories. They are always better. New horrors couldn't scare an infant. I am so out of the loop on new horror films, though. I watched Cabin in the Woods. THAT I liked. I'm a huge Whedon fan, though. I love his style. Plus I love all the actors in that movie.

I still haven't answered the question of my favourite horror. I think Wolfman is the best. I was debating with myself if Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a horror. If it is, then that's my favourite. If not, then the Wolfman story is perfect.

I need to go to bed. It's almost time to go! WHOA! I'll be blogging weekly on Tuesdays from here on out. Look out for that, and don't forget to check out Emz blog! I'll leave you with a quote from one of the best stories of all time! Take it easy!

I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self

and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse

- Dr. Jekyll