miðvikudagur, september 29, 2004
Sorry about the long delay between blogs. There's a lot going on in ma brain these here days.
I spent the weekend in Pennsylvania and New York. Fred, one of Þóra's and co. old friends had his 50th birthday party in Milford PA. They own 2 cottages there, right on the Delaware river, so we had this huge "backyard" (quotes because it wasn't so much a yard as a cleared out patch of the surrounding forest) where the party was held. Lotsa food, lotsa booze, 4 girls standing on the back of a renovated 1935 pickup truck playing bluegrass music while we all square-danced. I actually didn't take part in the dancing, was going to, but I was the odd man out.
Spent the night there in one of the cottages and then we headed out to Peter's and Courtney's place in New York.
Pretty amazing place, New York. Extremely overwhelming. Peter's place is teeny, but sells for like $400,000. Crazy. Fred and Helen's place is the same. Reminded me of Manuel's house in Spain, with all the narrow hallways and stuff.
Blah, not really in the mood to describe it all. Suffice to say it was fun.
Yesterday went to see Keane in concert. Ok band, interesting, singer, drums, keyboard, that's it. They were late.
On to more important things. What the hell is going on in my life these days?
Well, I'm finishing up my work here, will be done by the weekend. Then next week I'll start packing things and sending home with Eimskip. Also gonna put up some ad for selling my stuff here, fridge, chair, bike. Then...travel, travel, travel.
The weekend of the 8th, I'm going to New Orleans. Tótla is going there with a bunch of friends, so I figured I might as well go along, since I've always wanted to go there. That will be until the following monday. After that, back to College park, more packing, and then off to Boston on the 15th, to meet up with Stulli. Gonna stay there most likely for a week, then jump up to Vermont to stay with Hildur and Karen for the weekend of the 22nd. Finally, on the way back, I'm hoping I will be able to stay with Peter and Courtney a couple days in New York, do some sightseeing.
Húff, how does that sound? Funfunfun! I'm definitely looking forward to it.
I figure, actual moving home will happen in the first two weeks of november.
I spent the weekend in Pennsylvania and New York. Fred, one of Þóra's and co. old friends had his 50th birthday party in Milford PA. They own 2 cottages there, right on the Delaware river, so we had this huge "backyard" (quotes because it wasn't so much a yard as a cleared out patch of the surrounding forest) where the party was held. Lotsa food, lotsa booze, 4 girls standing on the back of a renovated 1935 pickup truck playing bluegrass music while we all square-danced. I actually didn't take part in the dancing, was going to, but I was the odd man out.
Spent the night there in one of the cottages and then we headed out to Peter's and Courtney's place in New York.
Pretty amazing place, New York. Extremely overwhelming. Peter's place is teeny, but sells for like $400,000. Crazy. Fred and Helen's place is the same. Reminded me of Manuel's house in Spain, with all the narrow hallways and stuff.
Blah, not really in the mood to describe it all. Suffice to say it was fun.
Yesterday went to see Keane in concert. Ok band, interesting, singer, drums, keyboard, that's it. They were late.
On to more important things. What the hell is going on in my life these days?
Well, I'm finishing up my work here, will be done by the weekend. Then next week I'll start packing things and sending home with Eimskip. Also gonna put up some ad for selling my stuff here, fridge, chair, bike. Then...travel, travel, travel.
The weekend of the 8th, I'm going to New Orleans. Tótla is going there with a bunch of friends, so I figured I might as well go along, since I've always wanted to go there. That will be until the following monday. After that, back to College park, more packing, and then off to Boston on the 15th, to meet up with Stulli. Gonna stay there most likely for a week, then jump up to Vermont to stay with Hildur and Karen for the weekend of the 22nd. Finally, on the way back, I'm hoping I will be able to stay with Peter and Courtney a couple days in New York, do some sightseeing.
Húff, how does that sound? Funfunfun! I'm definitely looking forward to it.
I figure, actual moving home will happen in the first two weeks of november.
fimmtudagur, september 16, 2004
Sooo ANYway....
If you thought my last post was a shocker, wait for this one.
Actually though, most of my family and closest friends already know this...so maybe not such a shocker. Oh well...
I just told my professors that I'm quitting the computer science department here in UMD.
Dun dun daaahhhh
They took it well, just asked why, and asked whether there was anything they could do to help me out. Nice guys, really. So, now beginneth a new phase in my life, wonder what that will be like?
I still haven't decided exactly what's gonna happen. I still have some loose ends to tie up with the research. But that won't take more than a couple of weeks, hopefully less. After that, I intend to go travel a bit, look at other places in the US. Gonna go with Freyja and Þóra to Pennsylvania for a couple of days. Gonna contact Hildur, see if I can come over to Vermont for a visit. A friend of mine is studying in Boston, I want to visit him too. And of course Peter and Courtney in New York. Also, Tótla is doing an exchange program in Jonesboro, Arizona. That could be interesting. She even had some plans to maybe travel into Texas; Dallas or Houston, I might join in.
The idea is not to just decide to move home without looking around. Who knows? I might find something interesting in one of these places. Either way, I'm incredibly relieved at finally having made this difficult decision. It's SUCH a load off my back. Who knows? I might be seeing some of you guys regularly before christmas.
If you thought my last post was a shocker, wait for this one.
Actually though, most of my family and closest friends already know this...so maybe not such a shocker. Oh well...
I just told my professors that I'm quitting the computer science department here in UMD.
Dun dun daaahhhh
They took it well, just asked why, and asked whether there was anything they could do to help me out. Nice guys, really. So, now beginneth a new phase in my life, wonder what that will be like?
I still haven't decided exactly what's gonna happen. I still have some loose ends to tie up with the research. But that won't take more than a couple of weeks, hopefully less. After that, I intend to go travel a bit, look at other places in the US. Gonna go with Freyja and Þóra to Pennsylvania for a couple of days. Gonna contact Hildur, see if I can come over to Vermont for a visit. A friend of mine is studying in Boston, I want to visit him too. And of course Peter and Courtney in New York. Also, Tótla is doing an exchange program in Jonesboro, Arizona. That could be interesting. She even had some plans to maybe travel into Texas; Dallas or Houston, I might join in.
The idea is not to just decide to move home without looking around. Who knows? I might find something interesting in one of these places. Either way, I'm incredibly relieved at finally having made this difficult decision. It's SUCH a load off my back. Who knows? I might be seeing some of you guys regularly before christmas.
þriðjudagur, september 14, 2004
MUHAHAHA!
You'll never guess what I did this weekend.
Here are a couple of hints:
I travelled over 14000 kilometers.
I spent 26 hours travelling.
I came within 500 kilometers of Iceland, twice.
Okok, from the beginning.
Last tuesday, I woke up around noon, and an important decision had coalesced in my mind(more on that later). Anyway, because of that decision, I knew I had some stuff I had to do the day after (wednesday), during normal business hours...ergo, I needed to get to sleep not too late. Long story short, I stayed up too late.
I decided to play some video games and then realized, whoops! it was 6 in the morning. So I figured, if I went to sleep, I'd sleep through normal business hours and I didn't wanna do that, had some stuff needed to be done.
So I stayed up.
Came back around 2 pm, and wasn't exhausted yet, so I figured I might as well stay up til like 8, and get my cycle back to normal (not that it has been normal since I moved here....but ANYway). So I start to chat with people on msn, play some games, anything not requiring too much brainpower. My friend and fellow trumpet player Sævar pops online and we start to chat. He reminds me that my old wind orchestra Lúðrasveitin Svanur is going to this festival in Bad-Orb, Germany this weekend. So I go like "oh yeah, damn too bad I'm gonna miss that. Say hi and drink some beers for me."
A couple of minutes later, Íris, Sævars wife and also a good friend of mine comes online and says something to the effect of:
"You should come to bad-orb!! YAY!"
And we start to joke about that for a while, "yeah, that would be kinda funny haha." So just for laughs, I start up google and type in:
"Plane tickets Stuttgart" (they live in stuttgart)
I click on the first link which brings me to a page with a form on it, telling you to fill out when you want to leave, what your destination is and your contact information. So, me being quite tired and silly, I said whatthehey, and filled it out. Stuttgart, tomorrow.
Two hours later, after I had totally forgotten about that, the phone rings.
"Hi, you sent a request about a plane ticket tomorrow?"
"Er....yeah.." (*heart racing*)
"Well, I got one for 5pm tomorrow for ya."
"Urmm, can you call back in an hour?"
I had no idea how to react. I needed to speak to someone, so I got Sævar and Íris back on the line, and they set up a webcam connection and we all laughed and shouted and jumped around in excitement while waiting for the guy to call back. Which he did (after an initial moment of doubt on my part). And so I bought a ticket to Stuttgart, with a transfer through Amsterdam, for 5pm on Thursday. (the day after)
The trip itself was a pain. 7.5 hour flight from Dulles to Amsterdam. Land in Amsterdam at 6 in the morning friday, hang around for 2 hours for connecting flight, then 1 hour flight from amsterdam to Stuttgart, where Sævar, Íris, and their little imp Hlynur picked me up. This was the first time I'd met 2 year old Hlynur, and I must say, this kid is klikkaður (but in a good way :) ). They already had another musician friend of ours (Fjalar) staying with them, and now another Icelandic musician friend, and Hlynur was just absolutely ecstatic. Two more big nice guys to jump around on.
Anyway, we had decided that my arrival would be a surprise to everyone, so I didn't mention it at all. So we drive out to Bad-Orb, which should have taken less than 3 hours but took 5 because I tried to navigate.
***Inside joke alert***
"Let's follow Fulda"
***End of Inside joke alert***
Nah, I wasn't only to blame, we all got lost, but it was fun.
And yes, when we finally get there, my arrival was a huge surprise. Just the looks on everybody's faces was totally worth going there, and the warm greeting I got. The whole trip itself warrants a full blog, which I might write later. Suffice to say for now, we spent 3 days there playing music, drinking beer, eating bradwurst, and generally rocking the place.
On sunday, Sævar, Íris, Fjalar, Hlynur and I went back to stuttgart and had an early night. Next day, they took me around Stuttgart, showing me around. (they actually took the day off, just for ME) Seems like a really nice place to live. Something about it that made one feel at ease, can't quite explain it.
After a very nice day on the town, we came back and watched some hilarious, and sometimes embarrassing, videos of Öndin playing at Kaffi Vín the last 2 menningarnætur.
Jón Ingvar: "LALALALALALALALAAAA!"
Us watching "BWAHAHAHAH!"
My flight back was at 6 the next morning, and I just walked in the front door, after a gruelling 14 hours of travel.
But it was soooo worth it.
That's it for now folks, sorry if I made people worried, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. More on some thoughts and possible Bad-Orb, later.
You'll never guess what I did this weekend.
Here are a couple of hints:
I travelled over 14000 kilometers.
I spent 26 hours travelling.
I came within 500 kilometers of Iceland, twice.
Okok, from the beginning.
Last tuesday, I woke up around noon, and an important decision had coalesced in my mind(more on that later). Anyway, because of that decision, I knew I had some stuff I had to do the day after (wednesday), during normal business hours...ergo, I needed to get to sleep not too late. Long story short, I stayed up too late.
I decided to play some video games and then realized, whoops! it was 6 in the morning. So I figured, if I went to sleep, I'd sleep through normal business hours and I didn't wanna do that, had some stuff needed to be done.
So I stayed up.
Came back around 2 pm, and wasn't exhausted yet, so I figured I might as well stay up til like 8, and get my cycle back to normal (not that it has been normal since I moved here....but ANYway). So I start to chat with people on msn, play some games, anything not requiring too much brainpower. My friend and fellow trumpet player Sævar pops online and we start to chat. He reminds me that my old wind orchestra Lúðrasveitin Svanur is going to this festival in Bad-Orb, Germany this weekend. So I go like "oh yeah, damn too bad I'm gonna miss that. Say hi and drink some beers for me."
A couple of minutes later, Íris, Sævars wife and also a good friend of mine comes online and says something to the effect of:
"You should come to bad-orb!! YAY!"
And we start to joke about that for a while, "yeah, that would be kinda funny haha." So just for laughs, I start up google and type in:
"Plane tickets Stuttgart" (they live in stuttgart)
I click on the first link which brings me to a page with a form on it, telling you to fill out when you want to leave, what your destination is and your contact information. So, me being quite tired and silly, I said whatthehey, and filled it out. Stuttgart, tomorrow.
Two hours later, after I had totally forgotten about that, the phone rings.
"Hi, you sent a request about a plane ticket tomorrow?"
"Er....yeah.." (*heart racing*)
"Well, I got one for 5pm tomorrow for ya."
"Urmm, can you call back in an hour?"
I had no idea how to react. I needed to speak to someone, so I got Sævar and Íris back on the line, and they set up a webcam connection and we all laughed and shouted and jumped around in excitement while waiting for the guy to call back. Which he did (after an initial moment of doubt on my part). And so I bought a ticket to Stuttgart, with a transfer through Amsterdam, for 5pm on Thursday. (the day after)
The trip itself was a pain. 7.5 hour flight from Dulles to Amsterdam. Land in Amsterdam at 6 in the morning friday, hang around for 2 hours for connecting flight, then 1 hour flight from amsterdam to Stuttgart, where Sævar, Íris, and their little imp Hlynur picked me up. This was the first time I'd met 2 year old Hlynur, and I must say, this kid is klikkaður (but in a good way :) ). They already had another musician friend of ours (Fjalar) staying with them, and now another Icelandic musician friend, and Hlynur was just absolutely ecstatic. Two more big nice guys to jump around on.
Anyway, we had decided that my arrival would be a surprise to everyone, so I didn't mention it at all. So we drive out to Bad-Orb, which should have taken less than 3 hours but took 5 because I tried to navigate.
***Inside joke alert***
"Let's follow Fulda"
***End of Inside joke alert***
Nah, I wasn't only to blame, we all got lost, but it was fun.
And yes, when we finally get there, my arrival was a huge surprise. Just the looks on everybody's faces was totally worth going there, and the warm greeting I got. The whole trip itself warrants a full blog, which I might write later. Suffice to say for now, we spent 3 days there playing music, drinking beer, eating bradwurst, and generally rocking the place.
On sunday, Sævar, Íris, Fjalar, Hlynur and I went back to stuttgart and had an early night. Next day, they took me around Stuttgart, showing me around. (they actually took the day off, just for ME) Seems like a really nice place to live. Something about it that made one feel at ease, can't quite explain it.
After a very nice day on the town, we came back and watched some hilarious, and sometimes embarrassing, videos of Öndin playing at Kaffi Vín the last 2 menningarnætur.
Jón Ingvar: "LALALALALALALALAAAA!"
Us watching "BWAHAHAHAH!"
My flight back was at 6 the next morning, and I just walked in the front door, after a gruelling 14 hours of travel.
But it was soooo worth it.
That's it for now folks, sorry if I made people worried, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. More on some thoughts and possible Bad-Orb, later.
