Falalalala-lalalala and happy new year

A new year is on everyones door step. I don't have a lot on my mind in this post, so I just wanna wish everyone a great year filled with many happy events.

Photographing fireworks is not as easy as it looks like. I tried this for my first time this year (or last year). I don't claim to be a pro at photos, but I have to say I was able to catch a few nice shots. Judge yourself! I know I can work a bit more with the composition and the backgrounds, but as a experiment it went very well. To catch the nice streams of light from the rockets you can't be to late or to early. It's not just about timing, but also about just trying over and over again until you get the right picture.

Life is different. It's about timing, yes... being at the right place, at the right time. But sometimes you can't do things over and over until you succeed. I try not to fill my day thinking of all my mistakes and how I could do things otherwise. Done is done! Nevertheless, it doesn't mean I don't wish things have happened differently.
Make sure you are ready in your life with your camera and be sure its all set up right from the start, because there might only be one chance. When the rocket goes off and the light is out. You either have it in your camera... or not.

I also wanna wish a special happy trip for a friend of mine, Reinder in Holland. Be sure to read his nice blog. As far as I know he is going to China later this year. I hope someone know what he is doing, because he doesn't seem to know himself :)

Happy trip Reinder and a happy new year to you all!

Friday I'am In Love...

I'am not to fond of traditions... especially those we tend to grasp and really don't know why we follow. But some traditions are nice, because you remember something good about it. Maybe you know this song by The Cure, It's Friday I'am In Love? It's telling about all the other days in the week that doesn't actually matter, but the day that really matters is friday. P4 Norge, one of our radio channels here in Norway have a tradition for years to play this song by The Cure every friday. When it's friday and the workday is drawing to an end and I hear this song on the radio, it makes me truly happy. I now know it's friday and I remember the good feeling about fridays. To me this has now been compulsory, a tradition to hear this song every friday. If I don't hear this song, the weekend really doesn't start properly.

Happy friday!!

And then there were silence...

Here in Norway things are usually going very slowly when it comes to changing things that effects many people. We learn from political systems that it's hard to actually change anything. You can vote for different political leaders. But the only change might be that you got new neighbors next door. Politicians can even agree to change something, but in real life, it has hardly any effect down to the people. I guess it's not very different from other governments...

But something that really changed fast and effected "everyone" in Norway is the digital terrestrial TV signals. I believe its only a couple of years ago I first heard something about what this is, and since then there were rumors about closing the analogue TV signals and using digital terrestrial signals instead. On September 3 it was reality. The signal was closed and tv went black (or actually snow dust) - at least on my tv.

What I realized in my new situation is how quiet it is home. I still find my self having a urge to use the remote control and then suddenly realize it's nothing there. Today, I actually tried to turn it on and thinking: "Maybe they accidentally turned the analogue signals back on?". I have to admit it will take some time to get used to not have a TV to look at. Now that I have plenty of time I can finish the books I once stared to read :)

An Australian fairytale called The Orange Juice Factory (Part 2)

For those of you who lived during the golden age of Commodore 64 and Amiga's probably know the game Defender of the Crown. You probably also remember the wonderful theme you could listen to as the game loaded. For those who don't know what I'am talking about or just want to hear this nostalgic sound again, can listen to it here. The link is actually the complete game play as well, so why not have a look at the whole game?
On July 11 my brother were married to an Australian girl. When people get married they often want a special twist on on the ceremony, and my brother and his wife had their own little twist by using the theme of Defender of the Crown. I thought it was a very cool idea. I remembered back on my own wedding. I wanted to use a melody from Star Wars called "Ceremony". Sadly the person we choose to play at the wedding, didn't have time to rehears the song, so we had to use another.

Anyway. A few days ago I promised to write the rest of my fairytale about the Orange Juice Factory. So here it is:

The Orange Juice factory - Part 2
- An Australian fairytale by Lars Chr. Gamborg

The Daughter woke up early the next day. She slept very well and dreamed very sweet, but she haven't forget about the thoughts she had yesterday. First, she wanted to ask her father to make orange juice for her as often as possible. Second, she still wondered what special assignment her father were talking about. She ran straight to the factory looking for her father. He stood in the middle of the factory very busy.
She was so exited when she saw him and said: "Father, father! I have so many questions to ask!"
The Manager: "Yes, my dear. What do you want to know?"
The Daughter: "I have a great idea. I want to help you on the factory. You said yesterday that you had a special assignment for me. What is it? What is it?"
The Manager turned around and pointed out the window and said: "Look, my little daughter! Outside the window she saw the forest of orange threes. The oranges were so bright and shiny."
The Manager continued: "I want you to find the best oranges for our factory, to make the best orange juice."

The Daughter liked the idea very much. Everyday she liked to spend time in the forest and now she was asked to find the brightest and the most beautiful oranges. She was so exited that she immediately ran out the doors and into the forest. When she found the oranges she wanted she told the Pilot to gather them. Sometimes she was allowed to gather the oranges from the threes together with the Pilot as well. Every morning she woke up, ran out to meet the Pilot to help him. After helping the Pilot, she wondered what then happened to the oranges. She again asked her father, the Manager.
And of course he would tell her: "After you and the Pilot collect the oranges, it is then put up in this big pot. Then the oranges are transported through these tubes."
The Manager pointed on all the different tubes in the factory.
The Manager: "Up and up they go to the big knives!"
The Daughter could see the Mechanics sitting just below the roof, and carefully cleaning the knives. From the tubes she could see the oranges rolled out below the knives. The Mechanic carefully climbed down. The Scientist, the Mechanics and the Pilot all stood behind the Manager.
The Manager said: "It's time to cut the oranges."
Everybody gathered around the robe, and by pulling this robe the knives would be released. As the knives hit the oranges the Daughter were frightened and screamed out loud when the oranges were cut in half. She didn't like the knives at all. They all worked hard at the factory. Everyday the Daughter would help the Pilot picking the right oranges. Everyday the oranges would go up and down the tubes. Everyday the Scientist would control how the juice are made. Everyday the Mechanics would clean the knives. And everyday the Daughter would cry out and scream as the knives cut the oranges. The Daughter wasn't very happy. She started to have nightmares at night.
The father, the Manager tried to cheer up the Daughter: "Life is sometimes difficult. When you want or need something, you have to sacrifice yourself to get it."
The Daughter listened to her father and promised to try not get frightened and scream.

The next day, the Daughter helped Pilot all day. She thought they gathered many good oranges, and the Pilot agreed on that too. As they both entered the factory they could see piles beneath the knives were about to be filled up. Suddenly something wrong happened with the machine. A alarm started to sound all over the factory. The Mechanic who were just about to clean the knives almost fell down. The Scientist got so frustrated and were running around himself. The Pilot started to climb up to the machine and the Manager and the Scientist were coming right after. Something stocked in the machinery. The Daughter remembered her father, the Manager once said that this happened from time to time. And sometimes the Mechanic had to stay up all night to fix the machine when something went wrong. The Mechanic were able to fix the machine quickly this time. The last pot where the final stage of the juice production were soon to be filled up. When the last oranges were found by the Daughter and gathered by the Pilot, and the Scientist have made the final check on the process, and the Mechanic have cleaned the knives for the last time - the big pot were finally filled up, and the Manager were satisfied. Everybody were standing around the big pile of oranges, the Daughter, the Mechanic, the Scientist, the Pilot and the Manager.
The Manager said: "Its time to start the final preparation for the orange juice." The Manager pushed the big green button on the wall. And out of the tab came the best orange juice ever. Everybody wanted to taste it first, but the Manager had promised that the orange juice was for the Daughter, so she would have to taste it first. After all, she was the one who had found all the best oranges. Everybody agreed on that. The Manager gave the cup to the Daughter.
She tasted it, smiled and said: "This is the best orange juice I have ever tasted. Thanks to you all of you!" And the Mechanic, the Pilot, the Scientist and the Manager were carrying the daughter to celebrate that they made the best orange juice ever!

The end of the fairytale. I hope you liked it :)

Greetings from Bongaree, Bribie Island, Australia

ANZAC Day

Since I've been here on Bribie Island in Australia for almost 2 weeks I accidentally came by a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park on this island, while being at this park I also a word I seen a lot down here - ANZAC. In Australia, New Zealand and some other places they celebrate something called ANZAC Day, a special day for remembering and honor those who gave their lives during World War I. It's actually not ANZAC Day today, but I decided that my todays post would be a tribute for all those who gave their lives in war. Now, I am actually against war and guns, but I still thing its honorable that some people gave their lives so other could be free.

It's celebrated on 25 April every year, mainly by people from Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC means "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps" and is special army with soldiers from both countries. On 25 April 1915 the ANZAC landed in Gallipoli in Turkey and fought the turks during World War I. Many soldiers gave their lives during this war. The ANZAC were officially disbanded in 1916. Later on, Australian and New Zealand has again formed a ANZAC to fight in World War II and Vietnam War.

Today I was also able to hire a bike and go for a little trip on the other side of the island called Woorim. The island isn't actually very big. Still, only a small part of the island is covered with houses and infrastructure. Most of the island is covered by forest and are only reachable by a 4WD car. The real reason why I went to Woorim is because of the big day tomorrow. Tomorrow I want to get up early and get to the other side, before sun rice. And thats why I hired the bike too... so (hopefully) look after some nice pictures on my blog tomorrow :)

Greetings from Bongaree, Bribie Island, Australia

Opposite of hakuna matata!

Making choices used to be very easy for me. I found out that using too much time on thinking back and fourth would just make me more uncertain. Beside, using too much time would eventually, in some cases, make it too late to make a choice; decisions have to be made fast and quick. There is no use of wasting time on wondering, while the train is leaving the station. It may sound cynical, but thats just how I am.

So, whenever I had to make a specific choice, I wouldn't use much time. I simply made a quick choice without any regret. Even when if I found out later that another choice might be better, I just said to my self it was a lesson for my self and learn something from it.

Lets have a thought experiment. What if you have a choice of two options. And you know, for certain, that whatever you choose of those two, you would still regret your final decision. It would be like choosing between an apple or banana. Whatever fruit you choose, you still want the other!

What to choose? What to do? What would YOU do?

Greetings from Bongaree, Bribie Island

An Australian fairytale called The Orange Juice Factory (Part 1)

I have to admit Brisbane is one of the nicest looking cities I ever seen. Beside from walking around in this beautiful city I experienced an Australian fairytale called The Orange Juice Factory (which I will get back to later on), a nice happy lady which were little tired from work, a nice cheap camera store and a boat trip along the river of Brisbane.


There are two (and probably a lot more) nice things about the modern look of Brisbane; First: You have all these high hotels and business buildings which actually have a nice good looking architecture. The problems in many cities is that many entrepreneurs doesn't care about how the building look like among other buildings. All this seems to be taken care of in Brisbane. Second: Among all these high modern buildings you could find small green areas and old buildings. The contrast between these buildings, mixing between new and old buildings never seemed to scorch the surroundings of Brisbane. I am impressed!

This is where I bring you to the Australian fairytale, or the Aussie fairytale. People Down Under like to shorten everything. I even read that some say just 'Oz' as Australia, as in 'Wizard of Oz'. Barbecue would be 'Barbi', Mercedes is 'Merci'. Darling is 'darl'. On the other hand, they like to expand words that are already short. The last thing may be a joke, I am not sure. Now this was a digression. The fairytale is called 'The Orange Juice Factory' and were performed by a few people on the middle of the street in Brisbane (In case you wonder the fairytale idea is by my self). A couple of days ago I just finished a novel called 'Appelsinpiken' (The Orange Girl) by the Norwegian author/philosopher Jostein Gaarder. I don't want to spoil what the book is about in case you want to read it, but I can tell you its about a boy who finds a letter specifically written to himself by his dad before he died. The letter is a story about a girl known as the 'Orange girl'. It may (or may not) be a coincidence that I also saw this act on the street which became the source to this little story of a fairytale.

The Orange Juice Factory - Part 1
- An Australian fairytale by Lars Chr. Gamborg

Once upon a time. Far, far away to the west of the land of skies and east of the desert, there were a humble little factory near the forest. The workers at the factory didn't have any names, they just called them self whatever that were suitable for them self. So there were the Manager, the Scientist, the Mechanic and the Pilot. They called the factory - The Orange Juice Factory.

The Manager was dressed in a long gray coat and a black top hat. The coat were reaching all way to the floor. The top hat were old a worn out, but everyone could see he was the manager because he were walking strange, just like and aristocrat with his nose in the air. But he were never rude to anyone. He treated everyone with respect and walked all around the factory and checked if everything were like as it should be.

The Manager had one daughter that he loved very much. It wasn't hard to know that she was the daughter of the Manager - she were walking just like the Manager, the same aristocratic way with the nose in the air. She was always wearing a nice beige and orange dress. Her hair was long blondish curly hair. The Daughter liked very much to be in the forest just beside the Orange Juice Factory. Whenever she was out she had her binoculars. Her father, the Manager once gave it to her as a birthday gift. Everyday at noon she would go for a long walk and every day she met the Pilot who were out gathering oranges to the factory. As the Daughter met the Pilot she said:
- "Good morning Pilot"
The Daughter knew it was the Pilot, because he was always wearing a nice yellow suit that all pilots wear. And he also got those nice big glasses the pilots wear. Whenever he were out flying and collecting oranges, he would wear those pilot glasses. The Pilot responded:
- "Good morning Daughter"

Now, you may think it's very strange that the Pilot would call her "Daughter", because it was not his own daughter. But everyone knew it was the Daughter of the Manager, so there were no confuse at all.

When the Daughter wasn't walking in the forest and playing she sometimes helped her father in the Orange Juice Factory. Everyday when the Daughter were together at the factory the Manager explained all the things happening on this factory, from the very start to the very end of making... Yes, you guessed it right - Orange Juice. The Manager explained:
- "Everyone who works at the Orange Juice Factory are important. Everyone have their own little assignment. Even you, my Daughter, is an important part of the Orange Juice Factory. It is of the uttermost importance that everyone do what they are suppose to do, if not, there will be no orange juice. If one fail to do its job, there wouldn't be any orange juice either. So it is important that we help each other all the time."

The Daughter liked when his father were talking about the Orange Juice Factory. The Manager said:
- "Look, there is the Scientist! He is the one who have the formula of the orange juice. He know exactly what to do, to make the best Orange Juice."
The Daughter said:
- "There is the Pilot! What does he do?"

The Manager continues:
- "Yes, that's our Pilot. You meet him every day in the forest, remember? He collects the oranges for the big pot in the factory."
The Manager and the Daughter continued further into the Orange Factory. The Manager pointed high up in the roof and said:
- "Here is the Mechanic. He is responsible for the machines at the Orange Juice Factory. He would be all around the factory just to make sure the machines works as it should. Whenever a machine stops working, he would be the one working all day and night to make it fixed."
The Daughter were pointing up on the Mechanic and asked:
- "Why is it sitting up below the roof?"

The Manager replied:
- "If you look closely, you see some knifes. The Mechanic is cleaning the knifes. The knifes are used to cut the oranges before it is squeezed to juice."
The Daughter were frightened to hear about the knifes. They look big, sharp and dangerous. She shouted as loud as she could to the Mechanic:
- "Mechanic, take care. Don't get hurt!"
The Mechanic smiled and shouted back:
- "Thank you!" The Mechanic replied. "I will. Take care you too, Daughter."

It has been a long and experienced day, the Daughter thought for her self. As she went to sleep she had one final question for her father, the Manager.
The Manager wondered what his daughter might ask about. He have used all day telling her all about the factory and how it works.
The Daughter said:
- "Earlier today you said I had a special part on the Orange Juice Factory. What is this special assignment that I have?"
The Manager replied:
- "My dear! It's late now, you have to sleep. Tomorrow I will tell you about your part of the Orange Juice Factory."

The Daughter thought it has been a wonderful day. She met so many new people at the factory and were wondering what her part of it all were. She also came on another idea that she wanted to ask her father, the Manager, but that has to wait till tomorrow. The Manager had already left her room, back to the Orange Factory.

This is the end of the first part of The Orange Juice Factory - an Australian fairytale. In a few days I will try finish the story. Meanwhile you can check out some of the pictures I've taken so far.

Greetings from Bongaree, Bribie Island, Australia