Iceland, ho!

So, I am barely able to sit still. I am filled past the brim with Iceland love.

Let me tell you. We saw Sigur Rós last night. At the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. And I love the Greek Theatre and Sigur Rós is pretty much life changing, but it hasn't rained here in almost a year. Real rain, anyway. We all wore rain clothes for the show because the weather report said it might at long last be time, but it was so warm and humid you didn't need more than a short sleeved shirt. It sprinkled at the very start of things, but when Sigur Rós came out, the weather held its breath.

And they were wonderful. Different from the last couple of times I've seen them, but wonderful just the same. And happy. And Jónsi spoke to us. He asked us to sing and we sang. And he asked us to clap with Gobbledigook and we clapped. And they covered us with tissue paper confetti as if it was the happiest moment and you just couldn't contain yourself anymore and burst into a million colored sheets. And all the little paper leaves that stuck to me were green. And it just meant something.

But then, when they came back for an encore to play that song like they end the Reyjkavík show in Heima - the one that builds and builds and builds - we were lifted up and up and up, and right at the very top, the rain let loose. But it was a warm rain and you almost didn't want to put your jacket on so you could soak it up. And Jónsi came out to the edge of the stage to be touched by it.



And at that exact moment, I'm sure, there was a conversation happening in New York in which my dear, dear friend Ciana happened upon an unlikely Swede at a party. And I am to email this Swede, who will in turn lead me to Icelanders. Crowds and and parties of Icelanders. Eligible young Icelandic men. Pools of them. At a party in New York in January. I am there. I am absolutely there.

All I need to do is email this Swedish boy and learn Icelandic, which I would do if I could stop dancing around my apartment.

Talking shop about ukuleles

I just wanted to save for posterity that this is my dream ukulele.

Do you ever have the problem where you get into your head the exact perfect thing that you want and then that's just it. Well, this is it.

I love the logo and the koa wood. So classy. Swoon.

I was also thinking about getting one of these for traveling with. You know, for ease of mind. And ease of wallet when I crush it on the train or forget it out during a snow storm.

And also, these Aquila strings are supposed to be pretty good.

I hear polar bears can swim...

Were you aware of it? vol. 10: Páll Óskar

According to Wikipedia, Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson (born 16 March 1970), known internationally as Páll Óskar and Paul Oscar, is an Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey. He had a musical childhood, singing at private functions, with choirs and for media advertisements, but was affected by bullying in school and tension between his parents at home. He came out as gay to his family at the age of 16 years.

Paul Oscar's musical range spans traditional Icelandic songs, ballads, love songs, disco, house and techno. He released his first album, Stuð (Groove), in 1993 while in New York City, and also sang with Icelandic groups Milljónamæringarnir (The Millionaires) and Casino while establishing a career as a solo artiste. His album of ballads, Palli, was the best-selling Icelandic album of 1995.

Paul Oscar came to international attention when he performed "Minn hinsti dans" ("My Final Dance"), Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. His most recent album is Silfursafnið (The Silver Collection, 2008). In Reykjavík, Paul Oscar performs regularly as a disc jockey in clubs and appears on radio and TV shows.

Tell me you don't love this:



It's catchy, eh?

Pleased with myself

I love how getting peckish at 8:45 for a quick late night snack means baking whole grain spelt-meal buttermilk biscuits stuffed with mozzarella from scratch and whipping up a little kale with stewed tomatoes and great northern beans. I am officially a hippie. As if there was ever any doubt.

zing!

You know how sometimes you'll just be messing around on the banjo or whatever and then all of a sudden you hear something. The thing you were trying to find only not really trying, more like wanting to chance upon. And then you chance upon it! Well, I didn't actually know this phenomenon until like seven minutes ago when I was practicing for the banjo lesson tomorrow since I've been neglecting it during my cold, which I am finally recovering from.

There was this part in Fireball Mail that I'd heard my teacher do and heard people do. A bit of fanciness. Not even that fancy. Just different in a way that I like. And I could hear it in my head, but of course I have no idea what those notes are. And I couldn't remember where it would go even if I did find the notes. And Then. I am playing around and hit the wrong string by mistake and it was like a shoot of lightening that said NOW! Play it now! So I fumbled around hitting whatever string till I found something closeish to the first note and then the other notes just came straight out my my hand. Just like that. As if I wasn't even trying.

And then I smiled so big at myself in the mirror I was practicing in front of that I noticed my teeth were tinged a shade of kale-olallieberry from dinner and skipped into the bathroom for my toothbrush, hence the delay in typing up this post!

So exciting! Just as I was sulking jealously at people who seem to have a way with stringed beasts and can coax a song out just by flittering their fingers. Where I feel like I can repeat fidelously (which, I know, isn't a word, but it's the word that my brain keeps suggesting instead of the word I'm trying to think of) but I can't or i feel much more timid before the task of musical inventing.

Maybe there is hope for me yet.

Also on the topic of exciting musical news, I am headed for Seattle soon, which means another trip to the Trading Musician! This time, I am on the hunt for a glockenspiel, a glow-in-the-dark shaker skull or two, and, if the stars align, a singing saw. Although, I keep thinking about Grizzly Bear and how they said they sing all the parts of the instruments they don't have in their band, and how I like singing the saw part. Only time will tell what the future will hold!

inventory

have been v. busy lately, and haven't updated as often as i'd've liked. apparently a couple nights of not quite enough sleep catch up with you quicker when you've been working ten and twelve hour days. and when i work now, i work. my work productivity has hit that hockey stick flash point. and i'm pleased about that.

but being sick the past week and some has been a bummer. i tried practicing banjo for the first time tonight in ages. my fingers still remember the moves, but slowly like i'm moving through molasses. and i want to be able to play fanciness. and rock and roll.

things that have been on (or passed through) the mind:
- i am tired.
- what can i do about the industrial food system and the havoc it's wreaking on our health?
- where will my new desk be post-shuffle, and will it have a window?
- oh yes, i bought this cauliflower at the farmer's market, how pleasant.
- how can i turn my icelandic-european farming adventure into a specific research project?
- will work really pay my health insurance if i say i want to learn about organic farming and how realistic it is as a sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture?
- are 2/3rds of the people i see on the street really obese or overweight and is the scale at my parents' house flattering me into thinking i'm not one of them?
- where can i buy "whole grains" and is that something you can bake bread with?
- how nice it is that the alocasia plant at work put out a big new leaf just when i thought it was unhappy.
- how the tea i made today is still sitting at my desk because i forgot to drink it.
- it is a shame that bluegrass banjos are so heavy.
- i am tired.
- i should get out those icelandic tapes that came in the mail the other day.
- when is a good time to join the peace corps?
- do i really need to have my wisdom teeth out, and if so, how will i get home and feed myself afterwards?
- do you suppose there are enough eligible men in iceland that i might get on with one of them?
- maybe a swede would do well enough?
- a scot?
- a liverpuddlian?
- maybe i should buy another bar of chocolate.
- should i buy cycling shoes?
- oh good, earl scruggs isn't playing hardly strictly on friday after all.
- need to email the seattle kids to let them know i'm coming.
- need to sleeeeeeep.

Novel Advice

I am running out of books to read, especially fiction. True, I've still got five of the six volumes of the Tale of Genji ahead of me

[which, as an aside, I am super impressed with Arthur Waley's translation. This book is purported to be the first novel ever written. It was written something like a thousand years ago, and it reads as easily as a novel - albeit a somewhat dense Dickens-y novel in its infinite description of minutae - from the 1960s, when the translation was first published. Not only that, but the man has done an amazing job at the encyclopedic work of explaining the nuances of medieval Japanese culture.]

but still. After all the news about David Foster Wallace, I suppose I'll try to attack Infinite Jest once I have my way with the Tale of Genji, but I need something more travel friendly to carry around with me.

So, I put it to you - what should I be reading?

Iceland takes the silver

**Courtesy of the September edition of Dateline Iceland

Iceland claimed its second-ever silver medal, losing to France in men’s handball in the final event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. According to Iceland Olympic Men’s handball athlete Ingimundur Ingimundarson, "Vikings are crazy. We're crazy. We believe so much in ourselves. I think that's the secret."

Back in Iceland, streets were deserted as people watched the match in their homes or in pubs and clubs. Companies allowed employees time off, while at least two cinemas screened the match for free. Players said that during the team’s semifinal appearance the country’s stock market stopped business as traders abandoned their computers to tune in.

Aside from the 1956 silver in the triple jump, Iceland has won two other bronzes, the last in 2000, and no golds. Despite the name, our country of just 300,000 people has never excelled at winter games, either. Go figure. Perhaps we’re always too busy taking in the sights.

How awesome is it that a whole country could get so excited about a couple of their guys playing handball in the Olympics. That swimming guy broke like crazy records and we got a little bit excited about it, but have you ever heard of companies letting their employees off to go support the team? Or, shutting down the stock market??

And according to Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post - It's like what Iceland handball captain Olafur Stefansson told me when I asked whether people in his country actually believe in magic elves. ‘It's not so much a matter of believing in the regular sense of the word, it's more of enjoying the possibility of it actually existing,’ he said. ‘And it doesn't matter whether somebody judges you or not for having that possibility in your mind. Because it's a funny possibility, and it enlightens your life and makes it more colorful.’

They delight in the possibility of magical elves!

Maybe this all seems so dreamy and foreign to me because I grew up in LA, but I'm all about being there for your peeps, and I love the sense of community, confidence and pride Iceland seems to have.

Soon enough, you all will be as obsessed with Iceland as I am.

Shuffle

So, there's another lil shuffle going on at work. They make jokes about how this happens all the time at the goog, but like dude.

Now, normally I'd be four square against it at least for my own sake. Since shuffle-shuffle usually means I get yanked from all my fave projects and tossed out into the abyss to fend for myself. Only, these last couple of times, esp. this time, my job is getting infinitely more awesome.

I suppose it helped going into it not really concerned one way or the other since I think I've proved myself good enough this quarter that they'd be crazy not to promote me. I've been a total rockstar, I don't even have to say so myself. I mean, it's because I'm much better at doing like organizational big picture stuff than the painful nitty gritty of "core work."

Anyway. The trick now is not to look too happy at work, I guess. Since this is totally a tough time for most peeps regardless of what this change will mean for them. It is true though what they say that we really have all been awesome lately. I am very proud of us. I know that this is something we need to do and I know it'll make things harder for some people than others - thankfully not me this time - but it'll be all for the best.

My biggest concern now is that I may actually start to enjoy my job. Fear of all fears. Other wicked thoughts entering my mind: the default visa time period for living in Europe is only three months. This also happens to be the amount of time I'm allowed to play hooky from work without having to quit. Not worrying about those kinds of decisions yet though.

Lest you, dear reader, become too afraid for my future, you should know that listening to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on an infinite loop also makes me want desperately to become a full time musician as of like yesterday. I have even been contemplating learning to play the *gasp* guitar. The guitar. Moi. This thought even got so far as to lining up in my head the friends of mine who already have skills in this general area as well as toeing the possibility of paying Emery at the 5th String to learn me some things. And considering whether my parents might not just have a spare guitar that could move in with me.



Rock N Roll, man!!