Icelander

I've had a few job interviews with production companies but things won't be developing untill later this summer so I have to wait... Untill then, I'm back to work in the Aluminium factory again... It's a hot, sweaty, dirty place but it pays very well...
Basically I'm driving around on a 20+ ton truyck, picking up molten aluminium and delivering it to the processing area... Kind of mindless and repetitive, but it does give the mind plenty of time to wander, and many a bright idea has come from the mindless and repetive work while doing the mindles and repetitive work, since it's so mindless and repetitive... and repetitive...
And things have been going well there... I was sure I would have needed a few days just to get back into gear before they let me loose, but I guess they assume I can't cause any more damage then I already have...
So on the first day the put me on the truck and all was smooth... besides the fact that I rammed accedentally into a rookie who just started and scared the poo out of him... Better sooner then later... That's who they learn accidents do happen... especially around me...
|

Here is just a small reminder of the time difference of the countries since I keep getting MSN messeges during times when I'm not here...
Between Iceland and Toronto is 4 hours... So when it's noon in Toronto, it's actually 4pm here... When the bars are closing at 2am, I am still at the bars here at 6am...
I've also missed messeges from my friends in Korea... The time difference between Korea and Iceland is 1 year, 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 11 hours and 27 minutes... So when it's Easter in Korea, I'm celebrating Christmas in Iceland...
I hope this makes it easier to reach me now...
|

Well, the Eurovision song contest is over... and I don't even remember who won nor probably anyone else in the party... Me made a big drinking game from the whole thing with tons of rules and penalties... Usually it gives us quite a buzz, but this year things were a bit different...
You see, we say you have to drink as many sips as you country gets in points from another country... And there are 24 countries giving points, so if you have a good country, you might have to drink 24 times 1-12 sips... That has often been hard to do... You've just finnished one penalty and then another country smacks 8 points on you... The casualties have been a few through the years... Well, this year... all 39 countries were alloud to give points...! and I picked a really good song...
Luckilly I survived through extencive training, but the guy at the top had to end the night over the toilet yelling "Europe"... "Euuuuuurope!"... You can tell he wasn't Icelandic...
|

There is a good party this Saturday...
Every year, there is this thing called The European Song Contest... Every European nation takes part in it, yet no-one seems to care except Icelandic people and some Europeans who are dedicated followers and fans (like Trekkies but with worse taste in music)...
Basically take every crappy song from a European nation... Select the worst... and then make it compete with the worst songs from other countries... Well, it's not quite like that... but it feels like it... That's why there is heavy drinking involved tomorrow...
There would actually have been even more drinking tomorrow if Iceland had made it all they way to the finals... You see some years ago, there were only 24 countries in Europe and all were in the contest... Then due to the breakup of some countries (like U.S.S.R, Jugoslavia and Tekkoslovakia) these last years, Europe is flooded with new smaller countries that no-one knows where are... I think Montenegro is a Starbucks and Moldavia is just a guy in New Jersey with a good internet connection... So now there are actually 39 countries competing, with more being added every year...
And because of that, there is a preliminary competition for the bottom 25 countries and only 10 get to go to the final with the top 14... And no-one here expected anything else then Iceland would make it, since it was voted highest over the whole competition in most European polls... So there would be HUGE parties everywhere so we were all ready when Iceland won... But... alas... We didn't even make it to tomorrows competition where the top 24 will compete... I think it's because when the new countries came in, they all voted for each other... That is actuall how the revolution started... Some Eastern-European nations sucked in the European Song Contest, so they desided to make many teams from one country and vote for itself many times...
So today the nation is broken spirited... Europes biggest party for us, and we aren't even invited *tear*...
But we party none the less... and we select our most favorite song/country... and when our song/country gets a point, we drink... And drink alot, because the top nations usually score around 150 points in about an hour...! I hope I can remember the rest of May after Saturday...
Have a great weekend...!
Skál... Prost... Nasdrovia... Cheers...!
|

I met two Canadians on the weekend... They are third generation Icelandic people and are realted to me in the Vopnfjord family... Yeap, my name could technically in Canada be Ragnar Vopnfjord meaning "Warrior Of The Gods, Bay of Weapons"...
They come from Manitoba where there is a big Icelandic settlement... and there every year is the oldest ethnic festival in North America, Islendinga Dagurinn (The Icelandic Day)...
What surprizes me every time I meet a Canadian with an Icelandic background, is that they know soooo much about Icelandic history and especially about Icelandic Canadian history...
Useless Trivia: Six of the seven dwarfs were created by an Icelandic artist for Walt Disney (all except Dopey (deffinatly American))... And Snow White was drawn by the same guy in the likeness of an Icelandic waitress he was in love with but never got... So Snow White is Icelandic... Putting a bit of irony into the name Snow White...
We had a long dinner with the guys on Saturday and talked about Icelandic history... Naturally we served them tradidional Icelandic Lamb for dinner, but not untill after we served them Rancid Ammonia Shark, Brennivin (Burning Wine (Black Death)) and Burned Sheeps Face where they had to eat the eye... They think they can migrate the country centuries ago and get away from this stuff...! Ha...!
And they still have a month of traveling around the country to go... and everywhere (EVERYWHERE) everyone (EVERYONE) will make them eat this kind of stuff or worse... Rams testicles anyone...?
I think this might be why they don't visit so often...
|

Because of a request, I will talk about the difference between Icelandic and Canadian girls/women... Heck, I´ll just talk about Icelandic women so I don't offend any Canadian girls/women...
Let's start with what you heard on the Oprah Winfrey Show a few weeks ago... She did a segment on Icelandic women... During that show, Oprah was offered ram's testicles and rancid shark which she didn't eat, but she did take a shot of Icelandic Brennivin (Burning Wine (Black Death)), and you could deffinatly tell she got drunk on air... Hahaha...!
According to Oprah (is she ever wrong?), Icelandic women are tall, blonde and beautiful... Due to long and cold winters they love to party alot and can drink quite heavilly due to how long all the bars are open... In the summertime though, we have permanent daylight... And what do the women do then... The same thing as during winter... Drink...!
It was also said that Icelandic women are very independant and very intelligent women... They have sex when they want to and are confident about themselves so they are never looked down upon if they want to take a guy home after first meeting him, which is how most relationships start... It makes the dating scene smaller since you mostly pick people up at bars late at night (probably after all the Canadians have gone to bed)...
This was just on Oprah...
I can add that they are great personalities, filled with humour and wit... They are healthy and fit... Sexy as heck... Charming and outgoing... Cultured and sophisticated... I could take any one of them to a dinner with the queen...
In Iceland they have reached furthest in equal rights, and women are about half of the government and hold some of the highest positions around in companies... We even had the first democratically elected female president... Someone tried to smear her reputation, by calling her "half a woman" because she lost one of her breasts (due to cancer)... She said "I'm not here to breastfeed this country"... Now that's an Icelandic woman...!
Now you can see why I gave up dating when I wasn't here... Any questions...?
|

Great three day weekend over... I need a few days of rest and relaxation just to recover from it... When we leave the parties it's sunrise, and that's the time when we hit the bars... or the bars hit us... My friend was viciously attacked by gravity and then the stairs jumped her..
I'm pretty sure it was gravities fault... Could be the beer consumption... Seen Icelandic girls drink more then would sink a Canadian Battleship...
Darn, I was sure that this weekend would otherwise give me stuff to talk about, but all it was, was a standard or actually above standard, party weekend...
It might be a sign you party to much when parties are nothing to talk about, and your mundane life seems more interesting...
Here's hoping for a boring week then...
|

Nice three day weekend ahead... Down town will be packed since most of our universities have just finnished their exams... So the scene will be littered with high caliber girls for the next days... and when I say "high caliber", I mean bullets that will take your head off from the knee up...
|

Day something in Iceland... Not sure since the track of time has just been washed away in a series of rest, relaxation, naps, shut-eys, snoozed, doses and an occasional beer...
Basically I'm trying to make up for all the time I didn't get to do all of that in Canada do to excessive (obsessive) work pattern...
So now I'm recharging and regenerating and all other types of "re-" words like REcuperating and RElaxing... except reproducing (don't worry, Raggi Jr. will be there one day (God help the world))...
This unfortunatly leads to a mundane type of blog entry, so hopefully with a three day weekend coming up I will have something better to write after that... Unless I can't REmember do to REcreational drinking and REgurgitating...
|

These 13 dollar beers here will be the death of me... At least the free water is good...
|

I've been in Iceland for a week now... and it has snowed three times, yet this weekend I also was sunbathing all day outside...
It's true what they say about the weather here... If you don't like it, just wait 15 minutes...
|

Well I'm back on the Ice... Stirred, not shaken... Nice and easy going trip home for the first time... No hassles, troubles or frustrations... That's of course why I arrived home without luggage... Basically I think it was too heavy for them... After causing an epidemic of hernias in Boston they desided to the probably needed a bigger plane to ship it all the way to Iceland...
The first week went by too quickly... Strange how I seem to have more stamina and tolerance for the nightlife here... In Canada I drink a few brewskies in the evening, hit the bar at 11pm and at 2am I am sloshed and ready for bed... Here on day three, I started drinking at 6pm over a soccergame, then there was a party that lasted til 3am, then we hit the bars til 6am... and I still had plenty of energy left...
This weekend was again drinking at someones place til 2 or 3am and yet again drinking at bars til 6am... With the 4 hour time difference between Iceland and Toronto, in a global sence, I drink til they finnish... I hope it's alcohol they are serving me... I'm getting concerned because I haven't had a hangover yet... Maybe I left that in Canada... or even lost it in the Boston Airport during my trip there... Hopefully it was found by security since it's a dangerous weapon... If terrorists got their hands on my Hangovers they could cause great damage... No one would go to work and all the free world economy would crumble...
But my luggage did finally get home so my hangover is probably somewhere there stuffed between some socks and my Simpson underwear... I will probably find it soon... Belive me...
|