Zimena

So, I've been travelling.

I went to Wales for five days last week. Flew to Manchester on Sunday, February 9th, and back on Thursday, February 13th. From Manchester, I took the train to Llandudno in Wales, to be at the Welsh Open for three days.

It was magical. Again. The only thing I'm sad about, is the fact that I could only stay for the beginning of the tournament. The whole trip happened so fast and so close to the start of the tournament that there were no tickets left for the later parts of it. And, considering that a certain Mark Selby ended up lifting the trophy in the end, it would have been amazing to be there to see him win a tournament.

BUT: The three days I had there were absolutely incredible! I saw two of Mark's matches. He defeated Haydon Pinhey by 4-2 in the morning match on Monday, and then had a really late and tough match vs Elliot Slessor on Wednesday. That match went on until past 1am, and there weren't many people left by the end. Apparently they gave me a mention on the BBC when I was in the background when Mark was taking a shot, and the commentator went: "Not many people left here at this late hour, but that lady in the Mark Selby t-shirt doesn't have a choice, really."

Needless to say, I was so, so relieved when he potted the match ball to win that match 4-3. I think I might even have been blinking away tears at that point.

Also, something nice: I shouted "Well done, Mark!" at him when they had finished the handshake and were packing up their cues and stuff. And he turned around and gave me a smile for that. That? It was so lovely, and it still makes me feel so happy.

It's not the only Mark moment I experienced during this trip, though.

The arena in Llandudno has a set of stairs that apparently go up to the players' lounge. So, typically, the fans would go to the bottom of the stairs and wait there to see if their favourite players would come by after matches. From what I heard from the stewards, there's a possibility for the players to exit via a back door and go directly to a car park behind the building instead, but most go down the stairs and are happy to meet the fans.

So, quite early in the day on Wednesday I went to wait by the stairs to look for John Higgins, who had just won his morning match quite clearly. Only, I didn't see him, but just a couple of other players I wasn't immediately familiar with or interested in. Until, suddenly, Mark was standing right behind he, having just come in the main doors.



So, I got a photo with him this time as well, and he said that he remembered me, and that we had met in Leicester. Also, when the other fans nearby also wanted a photo, he said that he was just going to go upstairs with his jacket, and then he'd come back. And, true to what he promised, he came back and made sure everyone who were waiting got their photos and autographs, and he was an absolute gentleman to everyone. I got to wish him good luck for the evening match, too, so that also felt good.

I mean... he said he remembered me?! My heart is still doing weird things when I think of that.

To be honest, I wasn't even looking for him at that point in the day, because I knew he wasn't playing until much later. So the fact that I got a few moments with him in person at this tournament as well was just so incredible to me.

I got a few photos with other players as well - Florian Nüßle was so lovely, and even tried to speak to me in German. Michael Holt was an absolute sweetheart, who said that he would like to win more. I told him that I would love to see him win more, too. Neil Robertson was nice to fans and happy to pose for photos even despite having just lost his match. And Dominic Dale was an absolute delight to be around, and stood around talking with us for quite a few minutes. I loved listening to him, he was so cool and funny!

Also, I got the one thing I didn't manage to get in Leicester: A photo with Rob Walker, who's the Master of Ceremonies for most of the snooker in the UK. I love him to bits, he's so cute and so crazy, and even on TV you can see how lively he is. But if you're actually there, watching him at work, he's doing a lot more than you get to see on TV. He's so active, always moving around and always doing something, so it's actually really hard to catch him for a photo because he's never in one spot for two seconds at a time.

Well, look at how sweet he is:



He even went down on one knee to be on the same height level as me. Then, afterwards, he said that "the last time I went down on one knee for a woman, I had to ask a question. Luckily she said yes." And he also commented at me that I had been in Leicester, correct? I was quite stunned that he would remember that, as I didn't even get to talk to him there. There was a moment where he was asking who had travelled the furthest to get there, and I was trying to answer that. He was giving out t-shirts with the WST logo to the fans who'd travelled the furthest. Only, the guy behind me was from California, so he obviously got the t-shirt instead of me. But really, that was the only attempt at interaction I had with him, so I was quite surprised that he'd remember me this clearly to even know exactly which event I'd been to previously.

Snooker really seems to be quite a small and tight-knit environment, though. For example, some of the stewards were the same as at the previous event, and they came over to chat, asked me how I'd been and such, making it clear that they also remembered me. At some point I was talking to one of the stewards, and explained to him that I was supposed to come to Manchester as well, but that my friend has had to cancel that trip, so I'll be going by myself again. And the steward just went: "No worries, we'll be looking after you. Because you're part of the snooker family now."

That made me so emotional.

What's more, when I posted about that episode on Twitter just after it happened, I got a lot of messages that basically said "you already were" or "of course you are" or "your inclusion was never in doubt." All of that just reinforced the emotional feelings for me.

Also: I ended up meeting one of the ladies I had talked to in Leicester, and we were even in the same hotel, so we stayed together quite a bit. While we were both aware that we were coming to the same tournament, we didn't know that we were both flying into the same airport or going on the same trains from there, OR staying in the same hotel. All of that was just coincidence, but it was so lovely.

She's Irish, by the way. And she randomly invited me to her son's wedding, in Rome in April. Much to my amazement, she also said I should bring the best friend (I had told her about him, due to the plan we had to go to a tournament together). To my utter astonishment, she just went "well, bring him and come to my son's wedding, that would be so great!" and then went on to talk about how a few more of her snooker friends would be coming as well. When I questioned how she could just invite me along with a person she has not even met, her explanation was that "you're a lovely person, so that means he must be a lovely person as well. Because you wouldn't bother to have friends who aren't lovely."

I find this logic absolutely shocking in a good way, but it was touching to see how natural it was to her.

Definitely a cultural difference between Norway and Ireland, right there. And one where I kind of wish we could be more like them, maybe.

Also, let me squee about British people and how easy they are to talk to again. I ended up talking to quite a few lovely people, even down to spending a couple of hours with some of them, sitting around talking snooker. One mother and daughter even asked me to come to the cafeteria with them when the matches ended one night, because they wanted to talk more. So I did, and we had a really good time.

Fun fact? The daughter there was the Michael Holt fan who was so lively and was shouting encouragement for him back at the shootout in Leicester, and I was pretty sure I recognised her voice, so I asked her if she had been there. When it turned out I was right, she wanted to talk more, hence the cafe invite. When I was leaving the day after, both of them came running to catch up with me, because they wanted to hug me before I left, as that was my last day there. That was so beautiful, too.

There were also a couple of other interesting people. One day we got into a conversation with some guy who was a snooker coach with some connections to some of the young Welsh players. He mentioned some names of people who were practicing at his club. Among them, he mentioned Dylan Emery. Well, that's the Dylan Emery who had just defeated Iulian Boiko in the semifinal of the Q Tour event that had been played the day before, so I kinda half-jokingly mentioned that Dylan had broken my heart a little with that. The guy just smiled and chuckled a little... only, the next day he came over to me with Dylan, and Dylan went: "Sorry for breaking your heart the other day, my apologies."

It was so, so sweet of him to do that. I think I got a bit too surprised to reply properly, but I'm definitely supporting Dylan a little from now on, too.

Finally, I have tried playing snooker for the first time. I was obviously bad at it, though. But I tried it both standing up and sitting down. Unfortunately, when I try to stand, too much energy goes into focusing on standing, which means I can't focus on technique or the balls right. So, I tried a bit more while sitting down. I struggled to get the technique right, though maybe it would have been easier in the manual wheelchair, as the power one is harder to position exactly right to be on the shot. So in the end they taught me to use the rest instead, which was maybe a little bit easier for me for now. I did manage to pot a red at an angle with the rest, as well as a few reds and colours that were sitting close to the pockets during my various other attempts. Suffice to say, I enjoyed it, and I wish I could try it more.

This was in the Fanzone, by the way. There's a practice table there, with a couple of official WST coaches who show you the technique and teach you how to play depending on your level. If you're a complete beginner like me, they show you basic techniques. But if you're already a decent player, they'll show you some tips and tricks to be better, too.

Anyway, after I had finished my first tries, another guy went on the table. He was really good, though he wasn't quite satisfied with his own performance as he also missed more than he would have liked, apparently. We got into a conversation with his friend, who mentioned that "he's even played at this tournament. Played Ali Carter here two years ago." When I asked who he was, the friend wouldn't answer that, but it was easy enough to look that up. Turns out that the guy's name was Ian Martin, and that he currently plays on the Q Tour.

Well, when he had finished his snooker on the practice table, he came over and we ended up talking for quite a while. We took a few photos together, too. And I mentioned that I try to watch the Q Tour sometimes if I can find some way to do it, so I would be keeping my eyes open for him now, too. And I mentioned that I'm also a Iulian fan. To which he replied: "Very good choice, he's a beautiful young man, inside and out." Needless to say, that also made me feel a certain warmth and joy.

We added each other on Facebook, too. And he said that he also has his own snooker club, in Bury a bit outside Manchester.

Well, fast forward to the day I was flying back. At the check-in at the airport, I arrived quite early, so there was no line behind me. Hence, the check-in lady took her time checking my passport and filling out some paperwork for my wheelchair. While she was doing that, she casually asked me what I had been doing in the UK. When I replied that I had been in Wales to watch the snooker, she went: "Oh, my cousin's a snooker player! He has his own bar and all. In Bury. His name is Ian Martin."

I mean: What?! The world is such a small place, sometimes.

[Link to part 1]

It's finally time to start writing this post. There's so much to talk about, and even almost a month later, it still feels like an absolute fairy tale. Definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

So, this post is about Thursday, December 5, 2024 to Saturday, December 7, 2024. As in, the last three days of the Shootout tournament.

This was my first time going to see live professional snooker. And let me tell you, even before getting into the arena, the experience was amazing. While we were waiting to be let in, I got into a conversation with some of the other people nearby. It turned out that the very first person I talked to was also the designer of the snooker shirts I've been buying since 2020! My first one was a Ronnie shirt in 2020, then I bought a Mark Selby one in the Summer of 2024. And also a Judd shirt as a gift for gobtastic soon after I got my Mark one. Either way, she was quite excited to see me wearing one of her designs, and I was also excited to meet her and get to thank her in person for the beautiful things she makes.

Turns out she was one half of the Snookergoths duo, who are kinda famous on Twitter and seem to go to a lot of tournaments. Speaking of Twitter, one of the guys who's talking a lot of snooker on there just came up to me and went "Hello!" like we'd known each other for an age, because he recognised me from my userpic, and I also immediately realised who he was. I won't say he's a Twitter friend that I talk to a lot, but he's part of the snooker community there and talks quite a bit, so he's more like someone I know of, rather than someone I talk to privately. Either way, he was really nice, and it was a fun way to meet.

Speaking of Twitter/online snooker people, a few others also came over to say hi and/or give me a hug during these days. It felt so good, suddenly being "physically" part of the community that had only been an online thing until now.

Oh, and I know I've said this already, but I love British people and how open and friendly they are. They just start talking like they already know me... which is very helpful for a kinda shy person like me. That said, it's also wonderful to be in a place where you know that everyone else is into the same thing as you are, so of course talking about snooker immediately meant that we had something in common.

So, as for how the arena was set up, they did a security control/ticket control by the door. If you had all-day tickets, you got a little paper wristband which meant you could go back outside if you wanted to, and still come back in. They also checked my handbag for any illegal items, but I had no problem bringing extra drinks/water, as they just perceived it to be for "medical reasons", as they called it.

Beyond the security control, you got into a sort of waiting area. This place had an area where you could try out various snooker-inspired games. As in, with a real cue and real snooker balls. Much to my surprise, it wasn't overcrowded, but there were always some people playing there. Sometimes I noticed some of the referees coming over to play during the break between sessions, too. That was nice to see. I didn't really go over there to try that out, though. Other than that, there was also a bar/eatery place, which was convenient since I was staying at the arena from around 11am to 11pm every day.

As for the actual arena as you see it on TV, it had stands for the crowd on three sides. On the fourth side were the TV cameras and the referee/marker table. Also, it was interesting to see how they make the "walls" around the playing area. I never really thought of how this is made when I see it on TV, but it's actually just some large blocks/boxes/crates sitting side by side. I saw a couple of people trying to sit on/lie on top of these for photos, but the stewards immediately put a stop to that. During the final trophy presentation and winner's lap of honour, the audience were allowed to come up the the edge of the playing area and lean over the box-walls, though.

Anyway, on the first day I hadn't realised where to stand in order to get a chance to speak to the players as they exited the playing area, so I was further to the right during the first session that day. I learned after that, though, and stayed in the same spot near the exit for the rest of my time there.

That meant that I got quite a few photos with players. I didn't even try to get a photo with most of them; I just went for the ones I love especially much. Or, in one case, I took my chance because things were happening right in front of me for minutes on end.

Want to know which players I met? Five photos under the cut:

( Me and some of my snooker favourites )

Now, as for the most important part of this post:



I met Mark Selby. ❤️

I still have no words for how much this meant. In fact, there's so much to say about this moment, and about everything that happened the day after, too.

One important fact is that my very first live snooker match was Mark Selby vs Baipat Siripaporn. It was the opening match on Thursday afternoon. However, I didn't even try to catch him after that, because I hadn't realised yet how to get close enough to do so. Besides, I was also emotional after having seen him up close for the first time, and also about the fact that he not only won the match, but also thanked Baipat for the game with a wai gesture - a little bow with the palms pressed together. My heart was fluttering so much in my chest at that moment, you can't even imagine.

Then, on Friday night, he had the last match of the evening. I had decided that I would try to get close enough to him to maybe say a few words to him, and ask for a photo. Only, he won his match, but then went straight to a live interview with Eurosport (which was in the opposite direction of where players normally exit after a match) - much to the disappointment of the 20-or-so fans who were waiting for him.

The stewards didn't want a group of fans waiting around, as they were trying to clear the arena after the action had finished for the night. Now, I should probably mention that I had a good tone with some of the stewards all day, because some of them were hanging around the area where I was sitting. So, they weren't angry, but they were just firmly trying to tell all of us to leave. In the end, it was just me and two other guys left, still wanting to wait for Mark to finish up his interview. Eventually the two guys left as well, and I also made the moves to do so - I mean, I'm not a difficult person, and I don't want to make trouble. I could see that they were finishing up in the Eurosport studio, though, so I half-jokingly told the nearest steward that "if you let me stand around for another couple of minutes to wait for him, I'm going to give you a hug afterwards. Okay?" He didn't get angry or anything, just mildly laughed it off. But then the other nearby steward just went over to the Eurosport studio and asked Mark if he wanted to come over... and he did.

Believe me, everything that I knew a moment ago that I wanted to tell him, just disappeared right out of my mind when I saw him coming towards us. I did get to tell him that he's my hero, and that I watch every match, though. He said that "they all say that to my face," very softly, like he didn't want to take in the words completely. I think I said something along the lines of "Well, maybe, but I mean it." Other than that, he asked if I was coming the next day as well, and he said "Nice to meet you," and we took this photo. One of the stewards took it, actually. I completely forgot to congratulate him on his win that night, so I felt a bit silly for that. The moment didn't last long, though, and he went away right after we took the photo.

As I promised, though, I gave a hug to the steward. And then immediately hid my face in my hands because I was so close to crying from emotion. I'm not sure if I actually cried, or if I was just completely overwhelmed. Either way, both stewards came over and smiled and joked and said "don't cry," and such. They weren't angry with me at all.

Now, if you thought that was the end of my Mark Selby story, you have to think again. Because he was still in the tournament for the final day, his wife Vikki and daughter Sofia were at the matches that day, too. Suddenly, I saw them about two meters away from me, so I probably smiled automatically because I recognised them - the TV cameras like to focus on them when he plays, after all. I had no plans to talk to them, though. But Vikki just came right over to me and started talking. She was like: "Hey, I heard you met my husband last night. Because he spoke about you when he got home."

My mind kinda went into shock, and all I could think was: "What?!" for a moment. But Vikki was very sweet and kept talking with me for a couple of minutes, and I got to take a photo with her, too. She also commented on my shirt and said that she loved it, and she was trying to show it to Sofia, too. I got to say hi to Sofia as well, but it was mostly Vikki talking. They actually had their seats just a bit behind me and to the side, but they didn't stay there for most of the "other" matches - when Mark wasn't playing, they just went out to the backstage area, so they were probably with him in the players' lounge or something. I obviously have no clue what's in the backstage part.

Anyway, he won his next match as well. And this time he took time for all the fans who wanted to have photos or autographs, making sure that everyone got it. I stayed back for that, because I had already talked to him the day before. Vikki and Sofia went to wait for him backstage, though, and they said "We'll get him to come over," when they passed me. So, when he had finished signing autographs and posing for photos with everyone who were waiting, he came over to me and I got his autograph as well. Oh, and this time I actually had the presence of mind to congratulate him on his win, and say that it was a good match (which it was! He was playing really well there!), to which he said "I'm glad you're enjoying it." I also saw that he posed for a photo with a woman in a wheelchair who seemingly wasn't able to queue up earlier. Seeing what that meant to her was also absolutely beautiful, and it was very nice to see how he cares about his fans.

Eventually, his run ended in the semifinal, unfortunately. He lost to the Scottish youngster Liam Graham, in a match where neither of them scored that much. Mark stopped on 20, though, and Liam eventually made 38 for the win. It seems he didn't want to stay for the rest of the tournament after losing, so Vikki and Sofia also got up to leave immediately after the semifinal. We said goodbye - but then Vikki came back to me half a minute after and gave me Mark's player pass from the tournament. As in, the access card thing that he had been wearing all week. She said that "he wanted you to have it," and gave me a good, long hug, and asked if I'd be coming to the snooker again soon.

I said that the plan is to go to Manchester in March, and she said: "Good, because then we'll see you there." She sounded so honest, too, like she actually meant that? She just seemed such a warm person, though.

Mark's player pass, btw? This one:



I feel like the whole three days were an absolute fairy tale, and it was magical from start to finish. Being at the snooker was already amazing, but the chance to get close to some of my favourite players was great, too. I can't even begin to say how much it meant to meet Mark and his family, though. It was so much more than I had ever dared to dream of.

First of all - I'm here for another year. I just renewed my paid Dreamwidth account.

Then, some notes about the Copenhagen trip:

✔︎ Duncan's concert was good, but maybe not as amazing as I had hoped. It was different from any other concert I've been to in the past, because he doesn't have an album out yet. Because of that, I was only familiar with two of his songs - "Arcade" and his newest single, "Love Don't Hate It". He played about ten songs. While most of them were quite good, I don't really remember them after hearing them just once. To me, this meant that the magic of seeing him on stage was sort of reduced, simply because I didn't have my own feelings about most of his songs. "Arcade" was good live, though - but even that was maybe less magical now than at the Eurovision semifinal. I'm not complaining or saying that it wasn't a good concert, though - it was simply different due to the amount of unfamiliar songs.

✔︎ I travelled with the best friend. Unfortunately, he got sick (with a cold?) the day before we left. I gave him the option to skip the trip altogether if he felt too ill to travel, but he said it was okay and that he wanted to go. It turned out that we had a nice ferry trip to Copenhagen, and we went to the concert on the evening of the day we arrived. Other than that, he simply wanted to stay in the room, though. For me, this sort of defeats the purpose of going on a trip - because, hello, exploring and experiencing new things is the whole point of travelling somewhere! I sat with him in the room for a full day, because I was kind of hoping that a bit of rest would mean that he'd be more in the mood to go out and do fun things afterwards. Then, on the next day, I decided to go to Tivoli by myself, and I also went for a couple of meals by myself as well.

✔︎ Yes, I get that it can be tiring to do things if you're feeling ill, but seriously - we were there for just a few days, so how about at least TRYING to make something out of it and make some memories?! I don't understand his behaviour, really - and that's even though I tried to understand, and tried to suggest things to do that weren't too draining.

✔︎ I think going to Tivoli by myself was important for me, though. At least I proved to myself that I can do things on my own; that I don't need people with me to take me somewhere if I truly want to go there. Yes, getting around there in a manual wheelchair by myself was harder than it would have been if I had been with someone, but the important thing is that I did it and it worked, and I know that I don't have to depend on anyone to get fun experiences.

✔︎ I also had to deal with everything around the flight home by myself, as the best friend was flying from a different terminal. We took a taxi together from the hotel, but then dropped him off at "his" terminal first. Mine was a bit further away (at the same airport, though - I think the buildings might even have been connected, but the entrances were quite far apart). But okay, travelling "by myself" like that worked fine, and I'm home.

✔︎ I don't want to say a lot of negative things about best friend on here, because I still care very much about him and this friendship means a lot to me. I will, however, admit that I'm annoyed with him after this trip. We didn't argue, and most likely he doesn't fully realise that I'm annoyed at all, but I am. In many ways it would have been better if he had stayed home... but on the other hand, I guess I needed these "lessons" in dealing with things by myself, because until now I didn't have much confidence with that.

✔︎ After this trip, I've thought a lot about something drbillbongo said a long time ago. "When you go on a trip with someone, you are still responsible for your own fun." This is very true, and I feel like this is something I learned from this trip. That's a positive, at least?

I've been in Poland for a week. Or, actually that's 10 days, as we left last friday, and returned home yesterday evening. I was so exhausted when I got home, but by now I'm feeling a little bit better.

In short - it was a lovely trip to Kołobrzeg. We travelled by car, and stayed in a hotel we've been to a few times before. For me, the main attraction of that place is the fact that the hotel has a wonderful pool area, and I love swimming and being in water in general. I still don't feel like I know Kołobrzeg as a town almost at all, and I still put on the GPS on my phone if I want to go somewhere in the town that is not immediately around the hotel.

So, I got to swim every day there, and other than that I was either shopping or resting or just generally having a good time. Still, being in a car for three days (well, normally two is enough, but there was no ferry home at a suitable time this time around, so we had to go home via Larvik instead - which means another half day of travelling to get home) is very tiring. I think I might have fallen asleep before 10pm last night... and if you know me, you also know that I often like to stay awake much later than that.

Also... Polish is still a "messy" language to me. I can see the similarities with Czech, but for me the main difference is that Czech is tidy and beautiful, while Polish is messy and mumbly. The "messy" look of Polish is of course partly due to the ortography, because Polish uses a lot of digraphs (sz, cz, etc) where Czech uses just one letter with a diacritic mark (š, č, etc). To my eyes, one of those choices just looks much better/nicer/cooler than the other. It's not only about that, though - there's also something about the way the language sounds, and I just find Czech beautiful. Polish? Not so much.

I also found that if someone did not understand me in Poland, it would sometimes help to repeat my question even in my bad Czech, and they would go "oh, yes! I understand now!" and then ramble on in Polish and expect me to understand them in the same way... except it absolutely does not work like that. Maybe it would work if I was better at Czech and more familiar with the differences with Polish, but I'm just not that good that the "neighbouring language interference" works for me.

For the n'th time, I need to get back into Czech. And I also kind of want to start learning Russian (partly due to "rediscovering" Russian music while ripping my CDs, yes...). And I have a Polish textbook on my shelf, but it's still the one of the least interesting Slavic languages to me, even though I traveled there quite a bit.

I'm also toying with the idea of making a language learning blog over at Tumblr. I was browsing language blogs over there during my trip, and the environment there does not seem to be elitiest and snobbish, like certain other language communities I've seen online. For now this is just an idea, though - let's see if I'll be able to do something about it.

So, I've been to Poland for about a week. I left on my birthday (April 16th), and got back yesterday afternoon. I'm still a bit tired after the trip, and really happy to be home... but I also had a lovely week there. We stayed in Kołobrzeg, on the Baltic Sea coast, but also visited a neighbouring town called Koszalin once. This is my first time travelling further than Denmark since last summer, so it was nice to be away for a few days, and even nicer that the hotel in Poland had a beautiful swimming pool so that I got to swim every day while I was there.

Other than that, the most special thing about this trip was the ferry trip from Oslo to Kiel, Germany. I've been on that ferry only twice before, so this is something unusual and cool. That trip also happened on my birthday, so I'll certainly remember what I did on the day I turned 40. Seriously, 40? That looks old... but no worries, it only looks that way. ;)

I'm back after one week in beautiful Harrachov, Czech Republic!

I went to Denmark for the day yesterday. The trip was mostly nice, and I also managed to buy a bag/backpack (well, it has straps for carrying on your back, at least) for the Portugal trip. Now I just need to see that I can fit everything I need in there, but I think that should be okay.

Today has been significantly less nice, though. I woke up hurting absolutely all over - headache, nausea, cramps, dizziness, you name it... It feels like I spent most of today either sleeping or moaning about being in too much pain to even do anything useful. Even trying to eat has been difficult, and I only managed to eat properly after sleeping for another hour just half an hour ago or so.

Right now I feel a bit better. I'm still tired, but not hurting or feeling like I'm about to throw up anymore. I guess I will still go to bed very early tonight, though. (Perhaps there is still something not quite right if I'm sitting by the computer at 6:30pm thinking of "going to bed early"?)

On a nicer note: I rediscovered some old writings on my Google Docs account - including some half-written fics that I had more or less forgotten about. I don't think these are fics I'm going to finish anymore, but it's still interesting to see them again.

Okay, so it'll be past 2am before I finish typing up this note. I just got home from another day-trip to Denmark about an hour ago. To be honest I wasn't too keen on going there today, because I still don't feel fully rested after last week's traveling. We had some things to do, though, so I guess I would have had to make this trip soon anyway, even if I hadn't made it today.

It was a good day, though. Better than I feared, anyway, especially after a few hours when I wasn't so painfully tired anymore. Can you tell I dislike getting up early, even if it's needed for some reason? It always leaves me feeling too tired for too much of the day. Let's just say I had a good time mostly, but I'm also glad this trip is over and done with for now.

Tomorrow my plan is to plant some more flowers, so that there's something in every flower box we own before Thursday (Ascension Day, which is a holiday here). This should be possible, I think.

After that, I plan to Not Make Any Big Plans for a week or so. Just sleep, read, rest, be on the computer, write and sit on the veranda a little bit. Let's see how that goes. ;)

Now it's night for me, though. Good night!

Today is my mom's birthday. We celebrated it by travelling to Denmark on a half-day trip, so I got home just a little while ago. She didn't want to stay there for the whole day (maybe because it's the third (!) visit to Denmark in a week for her, so she doesn't have a lot to do there right now), so we had practically just one hour there before returning with the same ferry we arrived in.

The ferry trip became rather more memorable than expected, though. As we both travel to Denmark quite a lot (as you might have seen from my journal), we know quite a few of the people who have their workplace onboard. Especially those people who have been working there for years. I mean, I've practically seen some of those same people since I was a kid or teen - there's especially one Portuguese brother and sister who have been there for as long as I can remember, and they're both very friendly and nice and always come to talk unless the ferry is crowded and they don't have time.

Well, today I mentioned to the Portuguese guy that we were celebrating mom's birthday. I was maybe hoping that he'd do something nice for her, like give us a little flag to put on our table or something minor like that. What I didn't expect, was that he would bring drinks (complete with a cocktail-style decoration) and a wrapped gift (chocolate éclairs) from himself and everyone else on his shift that we also know. So, actually, three people from that same shift came to give her these things, and she got hugs and congratulations from everyone, and they also said that this is from them and everyone else that also know her around the ship.

It was very touching, really. I also got a nice photo (I hardly ever remember to take photos. Then afterwards, I think of how I should have taken some... but this time I remembered), but I don't think she would appreciate it if I posted her pic online, so I won't do it.

I think she found this whole thing very lovely, actually - especially after the initial surprise had faded.

At least I think she had a memorable birthday so far, so I'm happy about that :)

I went to Denmark for the day on Saturday. Just the regular day-trip, mostly just to travel a bit... and of course to do some boring everyday shopping as well. You know this already, I'm sure. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on the trip this time around, because I've been feeling increasingly tired and listless for a few days now, so getting up before 6am and home well after midnight didn't feel like such a tempting thing to do. Of course I did it anyway, though - and it was quite okay, so it's not like I'm complaining.

Anyway, while sitting on the pier waiting for the ferry home to arrive, I was clicking around the Internet on my phone. Much to my joy, I found a long Johannes interview - of all things, from our local newspaper's website. The reason for this is simply that our paper has the same owners as one of the most famous Trondheim newspapers, so they tend to repost each other's articles if they consider them interesting for their readers. As these articles are always posted behind subscription-lock on either paper's website, it's very handy for me to get them from the local paper that I actually have a subscription to. From the beginning I wasn't quite aware of this type of "article exchange", so I hardly ever checked our paper for stuff about him, but I've definitely learned my lesson now. They write about him more than the national papers/news outlets do, honestly!

Wow, long ramble just about finding an article. How about getting to the point, maybe? He said so many lovely things in that interview, so I have a lot of fangirl feelings right now.

First, there were a couple of nice photos. Now you can see a bit better what he did to his hair. I'm maybe not so happy about this, but he's still very cute of course. Have a look:


Beautiful, expressive eyes. And smiling, a little bit. That makes me happy.


We already know that red suits him fine after that photoshoot from September. Here is more proof of that, if needed. I must admit that I also kind of love this pose; I don't know why.

As for the interview itself, it starts with a paragraph on how he keeps getting stopped by fans on the street nowadays. They ask for his autograph and/or want to take photos, and he says that it was a very strange feeling for him during the first week or so when it started happening. Now he's getting used to it, though. He also says that he appreciates it, and that he finds it important be nice to his fans, and to give something back to those people who care about him in this way.

I love his wording about this. And it's also beautiful how he admits that it was strange at first, but still he understands so well by now how to deal with all of this. This bit also reminds me that he said in another interview that he had to make an autograph for himself and practice writing it earlier in the season, because he never had a proper one until now.

As for other things, he also gets asked about the money he made this past season. FIS (aka The International Skiing Federation) published a list of seasonal earnings in prize money, and so the press are wondering what he did with all of that. His answer? "I don't really see it that much, because I let my mom take care of that. Then I know that everything will be done correctly."

This is lovely as well. If I had got rich at 20, I would have done the same thing, so I fully understand him about this. It's still adorable how he admits it like this, though. He admits that he bought one extra item for himself, though - just one thing that he would not have bought otherwise.

What it was? One new pair of jeans.

Seriously, this guy and his absolute adorableness. <3.

There is more to say about this interview, because it was very long. I have to leave the computer for a while now, though, so I'm just leaving you with this for now. But before I go, can I just say that I adore him so, so much? He's so very unposed and real and wonderful, and I love that about him.