This is the blog of a Norwegian (Marianne, aka 'M') who moved to Australia in 2007 to be with Roger (aka R) and feels lucky to have escaped a comparatively communistic country with ridiculous weather!

The American tv show 'Grey's Anatomy' has the most unlovable lead character ever. Her name is Meredith and she's played by Ellen Pompeo.

First of all, just about every other person on the show is prettier than her. Her hair always looks like she's been going for a walk in a rainstorm. Maybe that's the hot new look in Hollywood, but it does nuthin for me.

She always feels soooo sorry for herself. When a really cute guy wanted to go out with her, she said no, cuz 'her life is complicated enough'. From what I can see, her life is no more complicated than anyone else's. She's just playing the victim, like Americans love to do. We all have problems!! Get over it!

She fell in love with a married guy, which was ok, cuz she didn't know he was married. But then he left her to go back to his wife. Since then, she hasn't been able to keep her pants on. She will have sex with just about any good-looking guy who speaks to her, and he doesn't even have to buy her dinner.

She even decided to stop going out with men, cuz she kept having sex with them on the first date. As soon as she met a cute guy she went out with him, and had sex with him on the first date.

We recently found out why too. In a confrontation with the married guy where he called her a whore, she tells him she's only doing it cuz he broke her heart and she's trying to restore it.

What?!? When did sleeping around ever fix someone's broken heart? Would just make it worse, cuz in addition to having a broken heart, you'd feel like a slut and regret all the stupid stuff you do.

And then she went and proved once and for all that she's a real bitch. One of her roommates, George, had been madly in love with her for ages. He finally found the courage to tell her how he felt, and what does she do? She has sex with him, or started to, then half way through she realises she's only trying to make herself feel better and tells George she doesn't love him that way.

How can ppl like her??! She's a bitch and she's always the victim and a dam drama queen.

This is R's new car.

Idaho resident Kathy Evans brought humiliation to her friends and family Tuesday when she set a new standard for stupidity with her appearance on the popular TV show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."

It seems that the a 32-year-old American got stuck on the first question.

After being introduced to the show's host Meredith Vieira, the American assured her that she was ready to play, whereupon she was posed with an extremely easy $100 question. The question was:

"Which of the following is the largest?"
A) A Peanut
B) An Elephant
C) The Moon
D) Hey, who you calling large?

Immediately the American was struck with an all consuming panic as she realised that this was a question to which she did not know the answer.

"Hmm, oh boy, that's a toughie," said the American, as Vieira did her level best to hide her disbelief and disgust. "I mean, I'm sure I've heard of some of these things before, but I have no idea how large they would be."

The American made the decision to use the first of her three lifelines, the 50/50. Answers A and D were removed, leaving her to decide which was bigger, an elephant or the moon. However, faced with an incredibly easy question, the American still remained unsure.

"Oh! It removed the two I was leaning towards!" exclaimed the American. "Darn. I think I better phone a friend."

Using the second of her two lifelines on the first question, the American asked to be connected with her friend Betsy, who is an office assistant.

"Hi Betsy! How are you? This is Kathy! I'm on TV!" said the American in a typical excited stupor at being on tv, and wasting the first seven seconds of her call. "Ok, I got an important question. Which of the following is the largest? B, an elephant, or C, the moon. 15 seconds hun."

Betsy quickly replied that the answer was C, the moon. The American proceeded to argue with her friend for the remaining ten seconds.

"Come on Betsy, are you sure?" said the American. "How sure are you? Puh, that can't be it."

To everyone's astonishment, the moronic American declined to take her friend's advice and pick 'The Moon.'

"I just don't know if I can trust Betsy. She's not all that bright. So I think I'd like to ask the audience," said the American.

Asked to vote on the correct answer, the audience returned 98% in favour of answer C, 'The Moon.' Having used up all her lifelines, the American then made the dumbest choice of her life.

"Wow, seems like everybody is against what I'm thinking," said the too-stupid-to-live American. "But you know, sometimes you just got to go with your gut", which being American was probably huge. "So, let's see. For which is larger, an elephant or the moon, I'm going to have to go with B, an elephant. Final answer."

The idiotic American sat before the dumbfounded audience, and was told that she was wrong, and that the answer was in fact, C, 'The Moon.'

It's been a year since I signed up with Tele2. They suck and 5 months ago I stopped using them and got Chess prepaid instead. I've had to pay Tele2 every month till now tho, because I got a one year contract. Tele2 worked fine when all I did was make calls and give them my money, probs started when I wanted them to do stuff for me. Stay clear of Tele2! You can read about my probs with them here and here. Today I ended my contract with them. They'll never see me again.

Chess is lovely and cheap. I like Chess.

I went to see my mum today and while I was there anyway, I decided to tell her I'm moving. My dad has known for while, but I've put off telling mum cuz she keeps telling me to find a Norwegian boyfriend so I won't move away.

My move is only 3 or 4 months away, so I figured it was about time to tell her.

Me: I'm moving to Australia in June.
Mum: Are you??
Me: Yep.
Mum: It's decided?
Me: Yes. You want some of my stuff?
Mum: Er... sure. What are you doing with the cats?
Me: I'm taking them with me.
Mum: What?? The stray too?
Me: Yes.
Mum: No, you should talk to your landlord first*.
Me: Why? He's my cat now.
Mum: You can't take that cat to Australia.
Me: Why not?
Mum: It's one thing to take Julie, she's your cat, but the other one....
Me: My landlord has known for ages, he doesn't care.
Mum: But.... wouldn't it be better to have him put to sleep?
Me: No!
Mum: But think of all the extra expenses. My neighbour had her cat put to sleep recently. He was old and sick...
Me: Thomas is young and healthy!
Mum: ... and it's better for them.
Me: So to save money he should have to die??
Mum: Maybe it's better for him to not have to live anymore.
Me: He enjoys being alive!!
Mum: Well, I think it's ridiculous.
Me: That's your opinion.

Like a lot of ppl, my mum has the it's-just-a-cat-attitude. I despise it. It disgusts me and makes me sick. I wanna know where the idea that cats are worthless came from. Cats are just as smart as dogs, and in a lotta cases they are smarter. The reason cats can't be trained the same way as dogs, is cuz cats don't have the same pathetic need for approval that dogs do. Some ppl mistake independence for lack of intelligence. And even if cats were completely stupid, would that mean they have no feelings and no right to live?

I want the person who started this to be hunted down and receive a death penalty for each and every cat that's had to die because of that attitude.

Feel free to read my ode to cats and poem about a stray cat.

*When I moved into my current flat there was a cat that was constantly sitting outside my window meowing and wanting to come in. I figured he had an owner so I ignored him for a while. Then I found out he belonged to my landlord and was only fed once a day and was never let in. So I adopted him and even tho my landlord has known this for nearly a year, he hasn't bothered to say a word to me about taking his cat. Shows how much he cares.

I got an invoice from the post office today for keeping my mail for me while I was in Australia. The price they charged me for letting them not do their job for 3 weeks was 150 kr.

Having the post office keep your mail while you go away and deliver it when you come back, is a norwegianism. Everyone I know do it. I didn't realise how silly it is till R pointed it out to me today.

Why do we do it?? It wouldn't fill up with letters in 3 weeks, it would only get full cuz of all the junkmail, and we don't have to receive that. Why would we care if our mailboxes fill up anyway? I don't ask for mail. My mailbox is there for other ppl's convenience.

The post office doesn't need more money. The price for sending a letter anywhere in Norway is 6.50 kr. And as far as countries go, Norway is pretty small. Australia on the other hand, is huge.

You can send a letter anywhere in Australia for 50 cents. That's 2,50 kr.

If you receive a box in Norway that is too big for your mailbox, you have to pay them to deliver it to your house or go and pick it up at the post office. In Australia they deliver it to your house. For free.

It makes sense when you think about it, cuz delivery was paid by the person who sent it. Not just to the recipient's nearest post office, but all the way to their house. And they make us pay extra for actually delivering it to where the sender paid to have it delivered??

My mailbox is roughly 30 x 22 x 10 cm (yes, I did measure it). One day I received a box from Australia. According to the person who was meant to deliver it, it was too big. So they left a note saying I could pick it up at the post office. This particular time I knew exactly how big the box was (23 x 17 x 8 cm), and also knew that it would fit perfectly in my mailbox. I knew that because the boxes I get from Australia are usually all the same size, and they had been put in my mailbox on previous occasions.

So when I got that note and had to walk 30 mins to my nearest post office, I was tempted to take my mailbox with me to show them how easily the box would fit in it.

My blog is one year old today. I was gonna write a 'best of' entry, but I don't think I can be bothered to put much effort into it. My blog doesn't care.

But here are a few blog entries I like:

Strawberry, part II. The entry isn't very impressive, but the story R wrote me just to make me smile is:) Check the comments. [Part I]

The word I created. I thought of 'anywhen' when I had to define it. I use them a lot.

Evolution vs Creation. It pisses me off that everyone makes fun of creation, but act as if evolution is a proven fact. The truth is they are both theories and one is no likelier than the other.

Certain men need to be castrated. That's all there is to say about it.

The brilliant short story my sister Camilla wrote. It still makes me cry every time.

My entry about quitting uni. The entry isn't all that, but I liked how this little event changed my life.

Shallow society. I rarely do deep entries, but I really felt this one. Ppl are so stupid.

Animals deserve respect too.

Being a real man. Men are such bastards, and by trying to be 'men', they become bigger bastards.

The list of reasons why I don't like USA. I'm gonna go over there soon and find more reasons. And get a good laugh at their expense of course.

When I declared my love for R and proposed in my blog. Bet he didn't see that one coming:)

Seems I like a lot of my entries. That's good I guess. Seeing as I wrote them.

I called my mum today because it's mother's day and that's what good daughters do.

Mum: Hello?
Me: Hey, happy mother's day!
Mum: Thanks.
Me: Whatcha doing?
Mum: Well my boyfriend and your brother's here and we're all eating cake.
Me: Oh...
Mum: So I better get back to that. We'll talk soon, ok?
Me: Sure. Bye.

I wasn't invited to that little party of theirs.

My wonderfully sweet bf and soulmate R sent me an early b-day pressy, which arrived today. I knew he'd sent me my fav Australian chocolate, but I didn't know that he sent something else with it.

I turned out to be the kewlest and prettiest phone on the planet, a Sony Ericsson Z610i. It has the cutest themes, and I found one that suits me perfectly. I looked and drooled at this phone while I was in Australia, but decided against buying it.

I shouldn't be surprised that R bought it for me, cuz he's always so good to me. He also sent me a very sweet card with a kitten on it, cuz he knows I'm totally in love with kittens, and what he wrote on the card nearly made me cry. Awwww:)

Here are photos of my perfect phone and the theme I chose:

Valentine's Day is stupid. What's even stupider is that Norway decided to adopt the damn thing a few years ago. And we didn't just adopt the concept and find our own way of celebrating it, we adopted the American commercial celebration. Copied it exactly. Ridiculous.

Even the concept is stupid. A day to celebrate your love for your special someone?? If you love them you don't need a special day, you'll show them you love them every day.

I have an older brother. He lives a 5 minute drive from me, but I hardly ever see him. My brother has issues. Something in his head isn't wired right.

The first signs that something was wrong appeared when he started school when he was 7. He refused to speak to anyone at school, and wouldn't speak to strangers either. And that included a couple of uncles. He was sent to a psychiatrist, but he refused to speak to him as well, so there wasn't much point.

He had a few friends, but mostly he was left alone. This went on till he was about 13. When he started going to a new school I guess some of the kids teased/bullied him. In any case, he decided he hated school and that he wasn't going. He also stopped coming out of his room, other than to eat and use the bathroom. His room stank, and he would lie on his bed watching TV all day. He had some nasty fights with my dad, cuz dad was pissed off that he never went to school. My brother missed most of his 8th year.

The few days he actually got to school he usually got into trouble. I remember one incident where my brother walked into the classroom and there was a group of boys in there and as my brother walked in, they laughed at something. Probably a joke one of them had told, but my brother assumed they were laughing at him and threw a chair at them.

Because he couldn't function at a normal school and because he'd missed so much, he was sent to a school for kids with learning disabilites, such as Down's syndrome. He went there till he was 16.

Then he went back to the normal school system and started upper secondary school, studying electronics. He did ok in school, but at home he still spent all his time in his room. He would attack mum and dad when they tried to speak to him. Dad was strong enough to hold him down till he gave up, but mum got scared. He never did anything to me tho, so I was never worried about being alone with him. That was about to change.

My brother moved out when he was 17. I'm not sure what he spent his time doing after that. I know he had a couple of jobs, but he felt that the others were mean to him and they didn't last long. He moved to a different part of the country for a while, but he didn't do very well. He was a taxi driver, but being shy he didn't get many jobs and made very little money. To top it off there was some foreign person living in his building who kept nagging my brother to give him money. To shut him up, my brother did give him money, and then had none for himself. He called me and asked for a loan, but I had nuthin to give him. I tried to explain to him that if he gave the foreigner money he would never stop asking for it.

Then he moved back to Ålesund for a while. Camilla, our brother and I, were alone at dad's one day. My brother was 21, I was 18 and Camilla 11. My brother decided he wanted some food and went to the kitchen to make some. He wasn't a very good cook, so he asked me how to do some stuff. I tried to explain it to him, but I wasn't about to make his food for him. He didn't understand my explanation and something in his brain went into overload. He threw a couple of plates in the wall, then he attacked me and jumped up and down on me while I was lying on the floor. He tried to strangle me while he screamed 'you're so incredibly ugly! you're gonna burn in hell!' over and over. After a little while he stopped being violent, but kept screaming at me for ages. Camilla had locked herself in her bedroom and called dad, so he was on his way home.

After some more screaming, my brother left, and I locked the door behind him. Dad came home a little while after that and went out to find my brother.

Since then I've had very little to do with him. It kinda ruins a relationship when you don't know whether or not you'll be attacked. I only see him about once or twice a year.

He used to borrow mum's or dad's car a lot. Till one day when he drove like he had a deathwish and had to go to court. Now he never gets to drive their cars anymore. He's normally a bit of a whimp, so I've no idea where he found the courage to drive the way he did.

He went to Spain on holiday one winter, and decided to stay there. He lived off social security and some money my parents sent him once in a while. He only ate plain white bread and only drank water. My brother has always hated brushing his teeth for some reason, so most of the time he doesn't do it. As a consequence, most of his teeth have rotted away. The white bread and water were the only things he could put in his mouth without too much pain.

After 3 months in Spain my dad sent him money to buy a plane ticket home. My brother decided to spend it all on food and other stuff he needed, and stayed another 3 months before he finally came home.

He was so starved and skinny then that he would do nuthin but eat all day long. Our dad let him stay at his place for a while, and spent lots of money on food. After about a week my brother decided that dad was sooo mean to him and did nothing to help him. I was hiding in the bathroom, while my brother screamed at dad that he had to understand that he's sick and that he's a victim and dad screamed back that he'd done nothing but try to help him since he got back.

My brother took his things and left. He had nowhere to go so dad went after him and drove him to a shelter for homeless ppl. After that my brother found a friend he could stay with. Or an ex-friend actually. They'd had a fight a few years earlier and weren't speaking, but my brother was willing to try to look past that, and expected his friend to as well. Which he did for a short time.

Then my brother found his own place and has been living there since. He hasn't had a job in years, and I think he's stopped trying to find one. He has no social life that I know of, except when mum or dad invites him to dinner.

One time I had my dad's car and was driving my brother to our dad's. I couldn't park next to dad's building, because all the parking spaces were taken. So I drove another 50 metres and parked there. I got out of the car, but my brother just sat there. 'Are you coming?' I asked. He replied with 'why did you park here??!'. I answered 'cuz there was nowhere else to park. Come on.' and closed the door and started walking towards dad's. My brother got out of the car, and went up to the nearest building and just stood there. I shouted back at him 'come on then!' and kept walking. I looked back after a few seconds and he had started walking in the opposite direction. I asked where he was going, but he was like a scared dog, and didn't respond at all. I figured it was another one of his silly tantrums for no reason, and went in to dad's and told him what had happened. Dad said to just leave him alone.

After a few minutes my brother called our dad and told him he had 'traffic anxiety', meaning he was so scared of cars, that he couldn't get to dad's house because it involved crossing the road. Dad went and got him.

I started chatting with him in MSN a few months ago. I figured it would be good for him to actually talk to ppl once in a while. But one day he asked me if I like football, and I said no. He stopped talking to me then, cuz he took it personally.

He takes a lot of things personally that have nothing to do with him.He also doesn't understand that other ppl have the same feelings as him. He doesn't think babies or animals can feel anything. He ruined one of my cats when we were teenagers and still living at home. She got so scared of him she refused to be inside the house. Because he stayed in his room all the time, my cat didn't know him. So one day when he came out for a change, she was a bit nervous. He noticed and got offended. He started chasing her around the house to 'show her how silly her fear was', and accomplished the exact opposite.

He's not getting any help. Obviously he's messed up and needs a lot of therapy and should probably be medicated. And no one does anything. I don't think my brother is capable of getting the help he needs for himself. My dad has tried to help him once in a while, but just when they're getting somewhere, my brother will tell the person in charge of his case to not tell our dad what's happening. And because of the confidentiality thing, they have to respect that and stop telling my dad stuff.

It's really sad. Even tho I hardly ever speak to him anymore, I still care about him cuz he's my brother and I want him to get better. I don't think he'll ever be normal, but I think he could get better than what he is now.

A guy on tv was talking about duels, and asked 'what if George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden were to settle their differences without using the world as their stage?'

I reckon that woulda been a very interesting fight to watch, and it would solve a lotta problems without bombing several countries back to the stone age. 

I reckon bin Laden could take Bush. What do you think?

I'm 25 today. Unlike last year (and every year since I turned 19) I'm not having a mid life crisis:)

Altho R nearly triggered one last night with 'half way to 50' and '25+9 months' comments.... but then I thought 'so what? Life is good':D

I have just ordered a new laptop. R bought it for me. How lucky am I to be with the best man on the planet?

This means I can sell my current computer, which is good, cuz I won't be able to take it with me to Australia.

I bought R some customised number plates recently. They arrived today and make his car look endlessly kewl. I'm in love with this car.

POSTED BY ROGER in a spur-of-the-moment blog hi-jacking!

I love it when we in Australia publically display our dislike for the USA, and nothing says it more than a public protest that turns violent when someone such as the USA vice president decides to visit.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21268300-2,00.html

About Dick Cheney, the mantra was that he's a war criminal and he's not welcome here. I couldn't agree more.

On another note, is there one, just one usa resident who can pronounce 'Internet' properly? I dare any of them to say "In-Ter-net" instead of "inner-net"

Just one! I just want to hear one of them say it correctly! just once.

My flight to Brisbane is booked and the cats are booked in at the quarantine place. The cats will leave for Sydney April 16th and I will leave for Brisbane April 19th. I'm so excited:D

I told my boss I would be leaving today and she got pissed off at me. She said she only has bad experiences with ppl from Meny, and now I've added to it. She got a lil bit happier when I said I could work Easter. 

The 28th I'll tell my landlord I'm moving. My move is less than 2 months away. How kewl:)

Adultery is a huge mystery to me. I just don't get it. If you're in a relationship with someone, that means you care about them and wanna be with them. So if you love them and wanna be with them, why would you go and ruin it by cheating on them? And if you don't love and don't wanna be with them, then why cheat on them? Why not end your relationship with them and be free to be with someone you do wanna be with or have as many one night stands as you want, if that's what you want?

50% of ppl who cheat and 70% of ppl who have been cheated on develop emotional problems. So why on earth would ppl commit this act of total and complete betrayal?

I have no respect for ppl who cheat. I wouldn't care of they were my best friend, if I was to find out they had cheated on someone or would consider cheating on their better half, I would instantly lose every shred of respect for that person. I can't respect ppl like that.

You are in control of your body. If you don't wanna cheat, you don't have to. You don't lose control of your body when the temptation gets big enough. If you cheat, it's cuz you want to.

I seriously don't understand why anyone would ever do that to someone they're supposed to care about.