::The Yellow Book::

An illustrated regular

About Me
name: Katrin
age: 21
location: Reykjavík, Iceland
nationality: Icelandic
msn: trinagunnars (at) hotmail (dot) com
reading: Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. Old Arcadia, by Sir Philip Sidney.
listening to: My iPod
watching: Buffy DVDs, How I Met Your Mother and Gossssssip Girl
likes: sleep, Pepsi Max, YAs by Meg CabotTV and my late cat, Joakim
dislikes: Techno, mathfish  

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+ Kolbrun
  
+ Erla
  
+ Gulla
             
+ Anna Margrét     +Eduardo

 

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+ My Bible
  
+ Meg Cabot official website
  
+ See This Movie
  
+ He with whom I compare all persons of the opposite sex
  
+ Officially a fan
  
+ Ugla
  
  + My old high school
  
+ My old college
  
+ The Uni Choir
  
+ Uni Choir chat
  
+
  
+ The BOG
  
+ Reykjavík weather

 

   Credits

   Host- Blogger
  
Skin-Blogskins
   
Designer-Dawnwake

 

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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Hmm...

Mom read the latest post. She wasn't jumping up and down with joy over being mocked like that. In fact, she didn't quite like it. She said it with a look of suppressed amusement, though, so I know she wasn'tdead serious about it.

QotD:Anita Miller: "Darryl says that you use knowledge to keep me down. He says that I'm a "Yes" person and you are trying to raise us in a "No" environment."
Elaine Miller: "Well, clearly "No" is a word Darryl doesn't hear much"- Almost Famous
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 21:03:-

Friday, August 25, 2006

Jobs

I'm babysitting right now, and am on the computer as the 7-year-old boy I'm babysitting watches a Japanese show on Jetix. In heavily Japanese accented English. He's Icelandic, by the way: the five families that have employed me as a babysitter once or more, are all Icelandic, and have contacted me through Isskot - the Icelanders' society in Scotland, or by word-of-mouth. The reason for this is not that I put an ad on the website or anything; whenever a family moves and/or joins the society, they have to send a mass e-mail to the whole society about their family, and why they're here. Without consulting me at all, last year when we joined, mom wrote that she had an "18-year-old babysitting-enthusiast daughter" or something like that. Not that I mind being asked to babysit at all - the kids are all almost unbelievably good and nice, and I get paid. Mom wrote that in the e-mail because I had been (and still am) babysitting SUB a lot, as well as the children of my former choir teacher (not from MR; she was both the music teacher for some years in my primary school, then she conducted the children's choir of the Reykjavik Cathedral) whose son used to be my brother's best friend, and whose husband used to be my mom's colleague at Stod2 in the '90s. Then sometimes acquaintances of my parents would call me, and of course from the early age of... I don't remember, but I was pretty young I've babysitted Matti. So I guess I've got some experience on my hands. As I've yet to decide what profession I'm going to go into when I get older (becoming a published author takes time, patience and not to mention talent, and therefore there is need for a steady job), mom keeps pressuring me to decide and "look at my options" and suggesting this and that - "What about law? What about journalism? (and this one I hear quite often):...This is why you would make a great teacher!". She is way more 'panicky' about it than me, and it's my future that's in question. She's tried to threaten me that this next school year I should use to decide what I want to be, or else... And then she makes a stern face, but doesn't mention anything about the "else". But I mean, what is she going to do if I haven't decided by the end of the school year? Kick me out of the house? Well, I'm moving out when I go to uni, anyway, and besides, she's not that kind of a mom. Cut off my allowance? Well, no can do, since I don't get any allowance. Ground me? The phrase "You're grounded!!!" does not exist in her vocabulary - I'm not even sure she knows what it means. Stop feeding me? Again, not that kind of a mother. Make me clean the house? Well, I have to clean my room every Saturday anyway, and recently one of the bathrooms - I can't imagine a better Saturday than staying inside the whole day cleaning the house, listening to my iPod. (OK, that was an exaggeration, in case you didn't get it!) Make me cook for her? Do that already once a week. Cut me entirely off forever? Not that kind of person.
So there's not much she can do to punish me if I won't have made up my mind by the time I start uni, and when I'm out of the house, the very few options she may have thought of will be obsolete, as she has no control over me after I move not only out of her home, but out of the country. Love ya mom, but your threatless threats are useless.

Luke: "Get out, Taylor."
Taylor: "Why?"
Luke: "It's just a code I live by." - Gilmore Girls
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 21:35:-

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Top Five Reasons Why I'm Glad We're Moving

5. It means Matti and I won't have to walk 30 minutes to school every morning - it's maybe 15 minutes, I thing.
4. My stuff will not be located in three places anymore - only two (Iceland and here)
3. We'll have an internet connection 24-7 there, giving me the opportunity of going online whenever I want
2. There's a TV aerial in my room, so with my new fortune given to my by my relatives in Iceland I can purchase a new and better TV
1. And best of all, there most probably won't be a spiders' nest in my new room, like there is (I think) in my West End room - I've found three creepy arachnids in my room in as many days, two of them in my own fecking bed, while I was in it!!!

QotD: Chris: "You're gay?"
Bobby: "No, I got both my nipples pierced and bought a house in Morocco because I'm John fucking Wayne!" - Rock Star
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 22:31:-

Friday, August 18, 2006

To Move or Not to Move, That Is the Question

...Not that I have any say in the matter, though. We're moving - indefinitely - on Tuesday. Mom and Bjorgvin have finally grown fed enough up of living at West End, so mom called Ryden Lettings to find out if there was any more news about the renovation that is supposed to be going on in our home right now (well, not in the night), and found out that the feud between the owners and the insurance company is still going on. That was the last straw - mom asked Eileen the real estate agent to find us a suitable place somewhere in the vicinity of Matti and my school (oh yeah, we started again last Wednesday. Will come to that later), and whaddyaknow; a few hours later she had found two places, and the next day, i.e. today, mom and Bjorgvin visited them and decided that we'd move into one of them as soon as possible. And on Tuesday we will be moving there. It's not as close to the school as our current home, but closer than West End, so that's an upside!
I'm not too happy about moving from LT, but I am glad that we're finally getting out of this limbo we've been in since June, and this new place does seem fine. It's just that it annoys me that just as I've settled in and finally feel like one place really is home - you know, the smell of your room has become "your smell" and you don't even notice when it's stuffy in there; things like that - when I get ripped out of there, and whoa, suddenly there's this whole new place that I'm supposed to call home! It was the same with our place in Reykjavik, the flat at Hallveigarstigur; we barely lived there for 17 months before we moved to Scotland. And I was actually getting kinda used to the West End flat; it's mom who still feels like it's a hotel. Although, we didn't even have an internet connection there, as I might have mentioned: not good for a family of three laptops...
So I guess I'm content with moving again, as I've seen pictures of the new place, and it looks kinda cozy; all woody and stuff.
As I said before, Matti and I started school last Wednesday. We were a bit late for registration - perhaps not the best way to start the new school year! Matti, the poor thing, was very shy at first, but he's getting more excited about school now (surprisingly, one of his favourite subjects is art & design!) , and I think he's making some new friends. So I'm not worried about him anymore. Much. Another upside to moving to a place closer to the school: mom might not forbid me to leave school without Matti everyday - I've had to stay until 3:45/12:00, even though my classes were finished, and I couldn't go home in multiple free periods either, because I had to help him do this and that and find classrooms, if he didn't feel confident just following his classmates. I might have to wait for him for maybe the first week, but then I hope mom will let me loosen the umbilical chord that she's demanded to create between Matti and me. This is because the first day of school, Matti went home without me. We forgot to decide on a place to meet after school to walk home together, so he just assumed I had already gone without him, and left. He's not that bright that way, my lil bro. He may not have been paying attention any of the thirty-seven times mom told us to walk to and from school together. Anyway, I looked for him for about 20 minutes, worried that he'd got lost in the school, which does feel like a labyrinth for the first few days, or if he'd just gone home without me and perhaps got lost on the way, or that something had happened to him! It seems that I do possess the protective gene for my siblings my mother clearly does. Unfortunately, Matti doesn't have a mobile phone - I think he dropped it in the toilet or the sink or something back in Iceland a few months ago - so I had no way of contacting him, and he doesn't know my number, or mom's, in case he'd gone home with a classmate. So I finally called mom and told her about the situation and asked if maybe he was home already. Mom and BI were on the way home from ASDA, and they said they'd drive another way back - Lothian Road, the street we walk when we go to and from school, and see if they'd see him walking there. I asked mom to call me back if and when they'd found him, and went home myself. About halfway home mom called and told me Matti had just got there. That naughty little boy.
QotD: Joe: "Strange town, San Francisco. When I purchased the pumps, they asked if I wanted them wrapped or if I was going to wear them." - The Princess Diaries (film)
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 22:28:-

Friday, August 11, 2006

Wedding!

Yes, my mother is now a married woman. For the second time, albeit, but this time I am certain it's going to last. She and Bjorgvin said their vows Saturday August 5th at the Cathedral of Reykjavik (See the photos here!). It was beautiful, I almost cried when this alto singer called Anna Sigga sang What a Wonderful World after the actual ceremony. However, I was busy trying to keep Sigrun Ugla nice during the ceremony, which actually went well; she is an angel sometimes. And her grandmother feeding her raisins through the whole ceremony helped a lot, as well.
I was assigned two posts on the Big Day: full-time babysitter as well as Designated Dresser - that is, I helped my mother put on her princess lace-up corset wedding dress (She looked so beautiful in all her outfit - with the professional make-up, a completely new and good-looking hairdo, the pearl tiara, the pearl earrings and necklace, and of course the big, perfect dress.) without messing up her hair and make-up, and tying the laces on the back of the corset, so the dress wouldn't fall down at embarrassing moments. Well, when you're wearing a wedding dress, any fiasco is embarrassing, because all eyes are on you. Hence the importance of being flawless! It seems that I am a bit strong, contrary to my previous belief; I could tie the laces way tighter than the ladies at the wedding dress store where she bought her dress and was fitted a few times before it was ready. They took a picture of the laces after they tied them, so I could see how to do it, and when I practiced (we had a practice run-through on Thursday) I easily did it much tighter. Maybe it was because mom's been losing weight faster than Renee Zellweger after Bridget Jones's Diary in the last few weeks, though. She's back to the weight she was before SUB was born. Or Matti. Maybe even me - I don't remember.
After the ceremony, the photographer wanted to take some photos of the family in the backyard of the parliament house, which is right next to the church. After that, us guests and family went to the place where the party would be, while the bride and groom were driven around town in the 1940-something Chevrolet Fleetmaster, which happened to have once been the very first private car of the first president of Iceland! They arrived about 20 minutes after everybody else at the room we had decorated the morning before (rather splendidly if I may say so), where about 80 people were waiting, sipping champagne and chatting with their acquaintances. I was pretty much just shadowing SUB, letting her run as much as she wanted, but keeping her from doing what she wasn't allowed to. Being on baby-duty, I didn't have a glass of champagne, only Sprite. I did have a glass of white wine with dinner, though, but only one. There was a nice buffet of food, although some of it was kinda weird, like the small bread slices with hummus and carrots. SUB didn't eat any of it except what I thought were tiny meatballs, but turned out to be something else. Don't remember what, though. I only had one helping myself. The wedding cake, however, totally made up for it. It was so delicious.
But before the wedding cake was cut, I had to accompany SUB to my aunt's place, where her new husband's little sister would be babysitting her and Tomas David, my little cousin. My mother thought it would be wise for me to go with her, maybe help her put on her pj's and show her the bed and stuff, you know, so she would be more comortable being there with someone she knew, instead of leaving her family with somebody she'd never met before, to stay in some house she'd only been to once in her memory. It was fine - she was tired, though she fought hard against being put in her pj bottoms, and I lost the battle. She, however, barely noticed when I left again, as she had found some toys...
I went back to the party, and found that thankfully I had not missed the cutting of the case, but I did miss at least two speeches, both of which were said to be quite good; one made by BI's close, old friend, who was the toast master, and the other one made by my granfather, which I was more sorry to miss. Aldis, my ex-stepsister-current-friend (right?) guilted me into making a speech myself, and I was second last. It was completely unprepared, and I was really nervous so I took Matti with me, and he said a cute little thing at the very end, but I still did get some compliments, and mom did seem rather thankful, and dare I say it: touched (you just correct me mummy, if I'm wrong!) that we'd actually bothered to make a speech. But it was all thanks to Aldis. At about 11 PM, people had started leaving, and so did I. I hadn't really thought at all about where I was going to stay that night - I preferrend not to think about it at all, because I didn't really have any other place to go than back to the flat where we were staying. With the newlyweds. Not something I looked forward to, if you know what I mean... But thankfully, Aldis suggested that I come home with her and Matti - their dad Valli and his wife and daughter were at a summer house, and Matti and Aldis came back to town to come to the wedding - and we could have a girls' night in; rent a DVD and stuff ourselves with leftovers of the wedding cake and the smorgasbords. It sounded great, so I told my mom, who was as she'd been the whole day, smiling so much that it must have hurt the next day, and she was eternally grateful. No awkwardness there...
Aldis, Matti and I, along with my mom's friends Njola and Matta, caught a ride with my cousin David and his girlfriend Magga, (who by the way is very nice and I hope she'll be related to me someday...) and they dropped me and Aldis off in front of the video store at 11:20 PM - and it closed at 11:30 PM! We rented Failure to Launch, for lack of any better alternative. We wanted to rent Transamerica, but all the copies were out. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find out that one of my favourite actresses, Zooey Deschanel, was in Failure to Launch, and her character as well as Justin Bartha's character completely saved the film, between overdoses of Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Man, I liked her in Sex and the City, but in that film? Not so much. But I do reccommend the film, if only to see "Kit" and "Ace".
Right, it's getting late, I think this is about enough for now. I'm still working on the Belgium post, but I'll keep you posted... haha!
QotD: Kit: Shut up, you whore!
Paula: [sipping champagne] Oh I'm sorry, was I sipping too loudly for you?
Kit: No you were not sipping too loudly for me, it's that goddamn bird outside my goddamn window!
Paula: Oh.
Kit: What the hell kind of devil bird chirps at night? - Failure to Launch
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 01:10:-

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Greetings from Thingeyri

Sigrun Ugla and I came here to Thingeyri to our grandparents, Kata and David, last Monday. We were supposed to fly to Isafjordur on Sunday evening and then stay the night there with my grandma Haddy and then we'd go over to Thingeyri, but due to some small fog problem, we couldn't come until Monday morning. Early Monday morning. The flight wasn't cancelled on Sunday or anything; not before the plane departed anyway...
We caught a ride to the airport with mom's friend Matta who happened to be going to Isafjordur on the same plane as us. We checked in. I bought a 1/4 litre juice carton for SUB for 150 isk. The tannoy announced the departure of flight something something to Isafjhordur from Gate 2. We went to Gate 2. We got on alright. There were about 15 people on the plane - who's gonna go to Isafjordur on Sunday night, the night before Fridagur Verslunarmanna? (Non-Icelanders: don't ask, I don't know how to translate nor how to explain the meaning of this day and this weekend to Icelanders.) I was relieved when SUB fell asleep pretty much the moment the plane took off, because she often gets really travel sick. This caused me much stress since I was the one who had to look after her during the flight - don't get me wrong; I love the kid, but this meant having to keep her occupied and calm for at least forty minutes straight, while always worrying she might be about to throw up. Every time she's in a car or a plane, somebody has to sit next to her with a throw-up bag and a towel draped over her, just in case. When she does throw up, it's usually when such precautions haven't been taken. Anyway, she slept until we got to Isafjordur, that is, until we almost got to Isafjordur; we could see out the window this headland where there's a lighthouse and beyond that there's the fjord where the town is. Then all of a sudden the plane turned around! A few minutes later the pilot announced - after everybody had realised what was going on I should say - that we were turning around on account of heavey (little) fog which was veiling some of the West Fjords, including the airport. Can you imagine how annoyed everybody was? But I guess we should be glad the pilot didn't want to take the chance; he was, after all, thinking about the lives of around 20 people onboard, and I suppose he'd rather turn around than taking the risk. SUB woke up when the pilot announced this, and I was a bit nervous, but thankfully she accepted my appeasement of a colouring book and colours the flight attendant had given me for her while she was still asleep. Instead of being angry and grumpy as I expected, she was just tired and slightly annoyed. She remained calm for the rest of the flight. When we got back to Reykjavik I called my mother to tell her and she was veeeery concerned, as she and her new husband would be leaving for Keflavik airport at 4:30 the next morning, so I'd have to take care of getting us both to the airport myself - all alone! I also called grandma Haddy, after dad had called to ask me about what had happened; he explained that they had all seen the plane, and didn't understand why it had turned around. But there was nothing we could do about it, so Matta gave us a ride to Kopavogur, where Bjorgvin's mom lives and where they were havign dinner. Matta had decided that she couldn't be bothered to wait until 7:45 the next morning (check-in started at 7:15!!!) to get home and got a rental car and was going to drive to Isafjordur. She was accompanied by some man who happened to be a complete stranger but also happened to be heading West as well and didn't have a place to stay in Reykjavik. I woke up at 6 AM the next morning, managing not to wake up SUB who was sleeping next to me - I didn't want to put together her travel bed the night before because it would be unneceassary hassle to pack it again so early in the morning. I had a double bed, and it should have been no problem. Except for the fact that the kid moves a lot in her sleep, and more than once she almost pushed me out of the bed. She also had a bad cough, and every time she coughed I woke up with a start afraid she might be about to vomit. I was so nervous I'm almost surprised I didn't have a seizure, which can be caused by too much stress.
We were completely ready by ten to seven, and I called a taxi, before separately moving all the luggage we had - one suitcase, one compact travel bed, one folding push chair, a bag with things I needed for SUB on the plane, and my purse. This I carried first from the foyer of the flat to the staircase landing, then down to the foyer of the building, then I also took SUB down and locked the door, and then I carried everything outside. While I was carrying the last bit, I figured the taxi would be arriving and the driver would come to help me. Not so much. Sigrun and I waited outside until ten past seven, when the taxi finally arrived. I had called for it at ten to seven, as I assumed it would not take so long for it to come, and I thought the drive to the airport would be ten to fifteen minutes. Therefore I was a bit worried, thinking maybe the person who answered the phone hadn't got the address right or something, so I called again to check. The phone person (I couldn't distinguish if it was a woman or a man!) told me the taxi was on its way, and when I asked how much longer they thought it would take, I could hear the in the background as the person asked whom I can only assume was another phone person the same question. "Soon" was the answer, but I think they must have alerted the driver that there was an impatient lady waiting, as as soon as he got there he said it was a busy morning, and when he saw I had a toddler with me, he told me as I was fastening her seatbelt, he said knowingly to me that when travelling so early in the morning, it would be better to call ahead and ask for a car with a baby seat. I just hmm'd and told him where we were going. Surprisingly, it only took about three minutes to get to the airport!
There weren't a lot of people on the plane this time, either. There were some of the onesfrom the night before, but some had apparently decided to drive, and only a few others. I'd estimate that there were about 20 passengers onboard. Again, who's gonna be flying to Isafjordur early early early on the morning of Fridagur Verslunarmanna? Probably about a third, or even half of the nation was passed out in a tent at a festival somewhere in the middle of nowhere, still recovering from last night's - and last weekend's - binging.
SUB was just as calm this time as on Sunday, as I occupied her with the colouring book, a teddy bear, and some juice the flight attendant gave her. So she was fine, right until we got to Isafjordur. We could see the mountains out the window and I showed her, and she went "wow!", so I thought it would bring on another "wow!" if I showed her the houses, when we could see the town. Bad idea. She looked nauseous, and just as the plane landed, she made use of the thro-up bag I still held in front of her. She looked so miserable! And there was nothing I could do except hold the bag for her and hold her forehead (I'm actually not sure how that's supposed to help, but people always do that when they're trying to help people who are vomiting, so I did that too).
When we got outside and into the airport, we saw grandma Haddy and my dad waiting for us there. SUB was a bit timid at first and begged me to carry her, which I did obligingly, while we waited for our bags. Then we went to grandma's house where she trie dto feed us everything she had in her fridge and cupboards - she does that a lot, grandma Haddy - but only succeeding in a slice of toast, milk and juice. She had a doll pram somewhere, which Sigrun Ugla loved and drove around the house, and therefore fell in love with grandma. Then she and I napped in one of the La-Z-Boy chairs, a bit uncomfortable, but we were tired and seriously needed some sleep. At about 1:30 PM dad drove us over to Thingeyri, and my stepmom Kiddy came with, and she had borrowed a baby seat for SUB from their neighbour. Sigrun fell asleep while we were driving through the tunnel, so she skipped her midday nap that day - and wasn't sick! Oh, how I love that kid. She is the sweetest and darlingest baby I ever saw and took care of, and I just love her to bits.
QotD: Alice Collins: [referring to Judy, Lucy's girlfriend] "I really can't believe you brought her."
Lucy Collins: "Hello, Alice.
Alice Collins: "No, it's just, I thought you'd come alone. It's family."
Lucy Collins: "Are you starting already?"
Alice Collins: "Oh, no, no, no. Its just it didn't occur to me to bring my sex toy." Did you bring any sex toys?"
Lucy Collins: "You wouldn't know a sex toy if it left a battery in your vagina."
Alice Collins: "My vagina has served as a sacred gateway fro three anatomically correct children." - Eulogy
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-: Trina illustrated her blog at 18:14:-

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