Early Signs of Aging

Most people think it's the exterior that goes first. I disagree. Personally I don't think I've ever looked better. My posture is better, I dress better, and I've figured out what works for me when it comes to hairstyle and facial hair. No, aging starts elsewhere.

When I was in my early 20s I came across some old chat logs and emails from my late teens, and I remember thinking to myself "man, you used to be a dick". I could see signs of the person I would become, but in a raw, uncut, hardly elegant form. There was stuff that needed figuring out, but looking at my current self it was clear that I had figured out at least enough to become somewhat interesting. Looking back was something of a pat on the back, saying "you're not the idiot you used to be".

Recently, I read some of the stuff I'd written a few years back, and I thought to myself "wow, did I write that? It's actually kinda good", followed by the creeping sensation that I'm not sure I could have written the same things today. It was something of an uncomfortable feeling. And so the question becomes, am I getting boring? Am I getting old?

People are afraid of aging and of bodily decay. But spending fortunes on lotions and nutritious food, jogging and healthy habits doesn't slow down the real signs of aging. If you want to stay young read a fucking book, socialise and go do something stupid.

That's what I recon in any case.

Concerts for the Masses

I fell in love with Kaizers Orchestra once again, though too late to be able to pick up a ticket for their show in Grieghallen in February. Maybe I should go out of my way trying to get one. Hardly an impossible task. This was the song that did it, the lyrics are pretty cool and can be found at Kaizers official website.

Depeche Mode yesterday was pretty sweet even though the crowd was somewhat dull. Many didn't know the lyrics and people mostly stood in place; the price of seeing legends live, I suppose. God I miss the old concerts at Hulen and Kvarteret, the sweat and the smoke and the energy. Now a days the front row section is reserved for people willing to pay extra and companies greasing potential clients. Dull as can be. But it made me look forward to Rammsteins concert at Koengen come summer. I used to love mosh pits, and Rammstein might be able to deliver just that.

I'm in a writing kinda mood and wasting it on academia.

Now where are my 12k words?

Arg, work, tiresome, no time for anything else! Will have to start reading books, playing games and blogging when this is done. As well as finding new ways to do my hair. AND further develop my fashion sense. For that, I found some inspiration:

Now excuse me as I get back to my writing.

Alternative Fun

Two weeks into my seven week practice period and I'm starting to get a hang of this teaching thing. It's mostly due to my own efforts, the literature we're given is a colorful mix of philosophy and bureaucracy and doesn't do you a whole lot of good when you're planning classes. I suppose it helps if you have an interest in the subject you're teaching, and when it comes to psychology I rather enjoy educating the young generation about the bugs and quirks of our brain. And so I wonder, is it a good thing or a bad thing that I'm already pushing the limits of the curriculum? Not that I worry much about it, the official document seems to have a problem agreeing with itself anyway.

In other news, it seems someone in Oslo enjoyed reading my job application and wanted to take a closer look at the source. I'm not sure what to think of it myself, yet I suppose a day trip to Oslo would be good for the soul either way. It's always interesting to get to see a company from the inside, and there are no better ways to do so then through a job interview. In my experience you can tell more about someone based on the question he asks then the answers you get, and I'm very curious as to what kind of person they are looking for.

Also, I'm giving it ten to one odds on them reading this.

Going Full Circle

A few weeks into this semester, unsuspecting pupils will be hit by an avalanche of new wannabe teachers. I am one of those teachers, and a few weeks into the semester was yesterday. I suppose the most common thing to say would be to point out how it feels somewhat odd to be on the other side of things. Truth to be told, I remember only fragments of my days behind the small wooden desks. And being back there, walking the same halls I did more then 10 years ago, doesn't make me feel out of place at all.

As for the kids, they're mostly well behaved. Getting to teach classes in two very different schools, one of the best and one of the supposedly worst, the only real difference I can tell between the two classes is based purely on the age difference. And I consider myself a pretty decent judge of character.

Speaking of character, our two guidance teachers are night and day. One is fairly young, open for new ideas and seems to enjoy his job. The other one, not so much. Snide comments and jabs during the school introduction, the occasional unnecessary peck during class and an attitude which can easily translate into an aura of negativity. Specially computers tend to provoke this attitude. I see conflicts in my future.

On the other hand, The handgun safety course is really picking up. We're divided into smaller groups now, which makes it easier to get to know people. Also, the instructors showed they in fact do know how to instill mechanical behavior in us as they had us fire off 25 rounds over 5 sessions against an unmarked target board. No checking results between sessions either. Good times, and I'm getting better already hitting pretty evenly even under poor lighting conditions and with a mediocre weapon. It's all about Zen and being able to shut of the world and trust your instincts.. something I think most people in the age of information overload should learn.

Coming from a stressful classroom, slipping into the serene meditative state of shooting is food for the soul. I think I'm getting more then I bargained for.

How to Become a Gun Tooting Teacher

The last few weeks has been quite a sprint, but now the lectures are over with and come Monday I'm getting a feel for the every-day life of a teacher. Heading off to two different schools I'll be observing in class the first week or so, then start teaching said classes myself the following weeks. I'll be teaching Social Science at middle school level, and psychology in High School. Looking to be an interesting few months.

In other news, I went to a handgun safety course yesterday with the aim of doing a little recreational shooting. There's an outdoor shooting range not far from here; I didn't even know how close it was until I headed up there yesterday. There's actually a more action oriented shooting range in a bunker underneath the park next to our apartment, but they only admit seasoned veterans who can bring their own gun. I'm not quite there yet, but it's good to have long term goals.

Ruger Mark II, our training weapon.

So, after spending a few hours in the club house going through very simple safety rules and routines, presented in quite possibly the worst possible way you can when trying to teach people mechanized behavior, we headed off to the shooting range to fire off some rounds and getting a feel for the weapons. It was a somewhat interesting crowd that walked up the small dirt road gun in hand, age ranging from 13 to well over 50 and with backgrounds equally diverse. Sadly the social aspect of the club hasn't delivered at all so far, but we'll see how that develops as the weeks progress. More guys then girls, yet more girls then you would expect. According to our instructor, shooting is the second most practiced sport in Norway with only soccer rated higher. Makes sense I suppose, seeing as there are more guns pr. person in Norway (and Switzerland, interestingly enough) then any other country in the world. Not that you would know this from the media coverage.

Handling a gun again, and I say again seeing as the last time I fired a gun was 10 years ago back when I was in the Air Force, was surprisingly mundane. Maybe it was the cold weather, the old fashion barracks they called a club house, or simply the fact that we had spent hours going through rigid safety regulations and being fed a description of shooting which made it sound about as interesting as playing solitaire, I don't know.

What I do know is that these people are running around with guns, and they need to be socialized.

Work, work

I remember when being a student meant reading a bunch of books, showing up at a lecture or two a week, hanging out with fellow students and party during the weekend. Seems I've been out of the loop for a while, because now, being a student means trying to find the time to read a bunch of books, going to two or three lectures a day, constantly writing some assignment and talk to fellow students as you move from lecture to lecture. Weekend are spent doing what you didn't find time for during the week.

I did manage to sneak away to catch Gamer at the cinema tonight though. To my defence I found in a pocket a pair of gift certificates that expired this weekend, so we kinda had to use them. Games being my field and all I figured I should catch it, and seeing as it was suppose to be a dark and edgy comment to video games in general it should right up my alley anyway.

Moving through the pouring rain down towards Magus Barfot, we didn't have the greatest expectations for the movie and it didn't deliver either. The dialogue was dull, neither funny, cool, or smart, exemplified with the fact that IMDB doesn't list a single memorable quote. Almost a feat in itself. It seems to take itself too seriously, lacking any kind of edge. There are some cool ideas and concepts in there, but it doesn't seem to know what to do with them or how to develop them further. It should have borrowed some tricks from Shoot 'em Up, a quality flick which plays of the game aesthetic perfectly.

Next time I have an hour and a half to kill I'm totally watching Shoot 'em Up again.