To Fully Savour the Saviour: XO Cognac

This will be the last you hear from me before Christmas, so pay attention!

Merry Christ- and Obamamas!

Obamamas.. sounds like acidic fruit.

Despite our best efforts, there will be Christmas celebrations this year as well. In Norway, that’s the 24th and not the 25th of December. Lady C has spent our last dough on food, which is now stored around the study, being the coldest room in the building. We managed to seal off the kitchen, hallway, bathroom and bedroom-half of the apartment, making it easier to stay warm. As you may or may not know cold winds are gathering over Europe, pollacks are dying, and there will be no final battle between good and evil until at least 2010 (if you watched the Copenhagen summit).

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Doors come to mind. Thanks to doors we will not freeze to death. And having a job is pretty good as well, even though it has been a hectic three months now due to a 60% position at work, 140% position at home, and a University that withdrew my rights to study. I sent them an e-mail inquiring into the particulars of studying from a passion of learning (hence the choice of Philosophy among relevant bachelors), and was met with great understanding and common blame on the so-called Quality Reforms imposed on Norwegian students. Luckily, this only means that I’ll have 3 months off studying while I collect some more cash, and pay more debts.

We have a bathroom now, including a WC that functions almost all the time(!), a nice sink and a brilliant shower corner. I will have to write more about our experience with this bathroom company in 2010. And the company doing our kitchen. There are bones to pick and midgets to punch, and lawyers to notify, and disclaimers to post. In 2010.

And 2010 is on its way! Wow. The year we make contact! .. with what, exactly? Let’s hope it’s some million dollar deal, set for life, and off to the Caribbean! Or my writing. Or that it’s ourselves, perhaps, and planet earth in general. But let’s not argue about the colour of flying cars, the placement of borders and the institutions of religion; 2010 should be the year we make contact with each other. I have friends in Palestine, Israel, China, Malawi and Afghanistan, to name a few spots on the crust of Planet Earth. Let’s take communication technology further than governments’ and censorship’s’ dirty little hands can reach.

And speaking of contact, I’ve not been the best one in keeping it. I’ve blogged less, as the entire internet knows, and written a whole lot less; but that’s just spittle to the vast ocean of absence I’ve constituted in the life of my friends. Some have noticed it, even. But both me and Lady C will remedy the situation as soon as our apartment is habitable for indoor alcoholic events.

2009 in contrast, has been the year we make contracts. Big contracts. Lots of money going out of my personal fortune, Lady C’s inheritance and so on. I’ve never been so poor in my life as I am now. Yet I can’t seem to worry much about finances. We will manage. Conversely, I am a lot richer now than ever. We may have an yet unfinished property at the moment, but at least we have this property. And for every glance I take in of our brilliant home, the more I know we’ve done the right thing. And I’m just amazed we weren’t overrun by other bidders in the purchasing process. There were 10 other bidders for this apartment. They just didn’t see its potential.

Of course it has been hard working like this. I am a lumberjack for Christ’s sake, not a carpenter. Christ, on the other hand, was a carpenter. And like other craftsmen you can bet he didn’t arrive on time, always missed some of the material that’s needed and in general was very hard to get hold of. I’ll bet you that the Eve of Long Friday when Jesus joined his Heavenly Father upstairs, there were at least three appointments he was breaking. What is it with craftsmen? The Lord works in mysterious ways, or not at all, at least if it’s lunch break. And still expects to be paid in full..

Christmas is not a time for apologies and moral accounting however! No, it’s a fiesta! We celebrate food! and Family! and Exclamation Marks! …in NEON writing absolutely everywhere. We’re eating a lot of pork these days, and it feels good. After countless kebab dinners and deep fried salads it is simply wonderful having the possibility to cook your own meal. With real potatoes. And Lady C being your average brilliant chef isn’t something I complain about either. On the contrary, there are so many other things to complain about.

Rounding up this blurb, I must repeat that my photostream at Flickr is still being updated, and more so than the blog. So head over there and please don’t be shy to comment. I’ll prolly be back at work on Monday before New Year’s Eve, but in case I forget, have a Happy New Year as well as a Merry Christmas and a Bloody Mary or perhaps a mouthful of XO cognac.. Mmmm cognac. In any case be good, if not better. See ya!