Do we have a signal?…

Testing…

Testing…

OK, lovelings, looks like we’re back up and running and ready to bloggity-blog-blog.

…I still think “blog”-”to blog”-”blogging” as a verb sounds explicit, like the act of having sex in a swamp (Swamp-Thing victoriously carried his true love into the steaming sunset and they blogged happily ever after.).

Where were we?

Long story short, I’m in Oslo, Norway. I made a sudden decision to work for Funcom, a video game company, and more sudden move to Oslo to write for their Age of Conan computer game.

I’ve been here nearly a week.

Let’s recap…

Goodbyes

I made visits with several fine folk in the weeks before coming to Oslo, and finished it up with a goodbye party on July 3rd. It was a good turnout. Really good. I have the fortune of knowing a lot of fine people who fill in the nooks and crannies and the pantheons and the plots of my life. You all weave into a tapestry that is very precious—more so than I might regularly iterate—every stitch of you. If nothing else, 4,000 miles puts that into perspective. Growing up, I was a very shy child, with only a few close friends. I never would have thought I’d have such a wealth of comrades, chums, and partners in crime as I do now.

The Story So Far…

The last week is a blur. Let’s go over some of the finer points as they come to mind:

The plane ride be long. Carrying a desktop computer as carry-on should be avoided. I didn’t get much sleep the night before the flight and no sleep on the day of the flight. I arrived in Sweden and then in Norway in a state of delirium.

I got off the plane.

On to a train.

And straight to my place of work.

Then they showed me my apartment and I slept for some 16 hours.

The first week at work was getting acclimated, to the building, company, and game. One of my first assignments was to download my free account to Conan and play for several hours.

I’ll have to give a photo tour of the place in a later post, but one place of note is the lounge on the top floor. The nameplate on the room says, “Yggdrasil”. In the lounge is a fridge and the fanciest coffee machine I’ve ever seen. It’s the HAL of coffee machines…in fact, I won’t be surprised when it turns and kills us all. But the coffee is delicious!

Free Beer Friday

On Friday nights, the lounge fridge is stocked with free beer for the employees. It’s a good time to socialize. I found myself on the roof having several interesting discussions.

A British guy talked about walking barefoot through the jungles of Mexico, tripping on acid.

A Norwegian guy, when talking about aggressive or violent countries, shrugged and said (referring to the Viking age), “We got it out of our system.”

Talk of eating intelligent marine life…

Odds n’ Ends

The plastic rings don’t detach from the caps on plastic Coke bottles out here…and it’s driving me mad!!!

“You Americans and cheese!” was said to me upon one person looking at my lunch tray.

If one actually looks at their food receipts, in Oslo, one risks depression.

Oslo Zombie-Walk 2009

When, barely recovered from jetlag, you’re asked to don some gory apparel and walk with an undead hoard through a strange city…it is wise to say yes.

Yes, I will move to Norway in a few weeks.

Yes, I will join Oslo’s second annual Zombie Walk.

Yes leads to interesting places.

It was serendipitous for this event to fall on my first Saturday in Oslo and I thought it would be a great introduction to the city center.

I was the last one from work to leave…leaving me half lost, looking for the train station, alone, with a bloody face. It was an interesting trip back.

Some zombie images (lots of cameras out there…so if someone stumbles upon any other Oslo Zombie Walk 2009 photos…let me know)…

Phone Home (or at least Skype)

There’s more to say, but I must away. More details to come as I record my misadventures abroad. For those who want to keep in contact with me, you can check on my blog at:

-My Blogspot Blog
-Livejournal Blog
-My Myspace Page

You can find me on Facebook.

Or my Twitter page.

Goodnight.