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One of the perks of living in Norway is learning Norwegian (go figure). While I don't claim to speak fluently, I have learned a fair amount. These are a few phrases that have stuck out so far because of their pure brillance, quirkiness, or fun. I've tried to provide a rough pronunciation, too.[1]

et øyeblikk

Pronunciation: et oy-blek

A moment; literally, "an eye blink"

In English, we'd say "one moment/second/minute". The Norwegian way is much more elegant, yet just as meaningful.

takk for sist

Pronunciation: tuck for sist

Something akin to "nice to see you again"; literally, "thanks for last time"

There's no direct translation for this in English. It expresses happiness at seeing a friend again and reminds them that you had a good time with them last time you were together.

en rosin i pølsen

Pronunciation: en row-seen e pull-san

A surprise in something already great; literally, "a raisin in the sausage"

Norwegians like sausages and apparently raisins in sausages are (or used to be) just short of a delicacy here. So, a sausage is already great on its own, but add in raisins and they're even better.

ha det (bra)

Pronunciation: ha da (bra)

Good bye; literally, "have it (well)"

Most of the time, you just say "ha det", which translates to "have it". Similar to "see you" in that it isn't a complete sentence, but it's used so often that the meaning is understood.

koselig

Pronunciation: koose-lee

Comfortable, cozy

This is used especially to describe the inviting atmosphere of a house during the winter. A "koselig" home usually has a fire, plenty of candles, yummy smells, and good friends.

[1] Pronunciation is very dependent on the area of Norway you live. For instance, in Oslo, "d"s at the end of words are often silent. Also, since I'm giving a rough approximation in English, it depends on how you pronounce things in English.

I think of myself as a writer. That only really started during my sophomore year of college though, when my English Literature professor suggested I take up a Writing Minor. Before then, I never thought I was good at it; I didn't feel like I had the imagination for it.

Back in primary and secondary school, I recall recreating my own versions of The Flash and The Killer Brussel Sprouts because I couldn't come up with my own story to tell. One of my classmates even called me on the former, but my teacher let it go, as I had written the tale in my own way. Now that I think about it, I'm usually better at improving something that already exists than creating something from scratch. And that doesn't go just for writing. I think that's one of the reasons I'm so good at quality assurance; though I don't look directly at the code, I have a head for finding the weak points in what others have done.

But I digress. Lately, I've been finding it more and more difficult to write. Part of it comes from working at a computer all day. Who really wants to come home and work on it all night, too? Part of it is also the amount of work I usually put into a single post. Gone are the days that I could write and write and write, hit submit, and be over with it. Now, I write, go back and rewrite a bit, write some more, add a sentence to the paragraph I started with, and so on. I almost wonder if all the writing classes I took at school have ruined me. I'm only interested in the superb ideas. I want perfect punctuation, grammar, and spelling (he says as he gives "supurb" a second look and corrects it). And all these things cause this once easy hobby to become long and arduous.

I took the fun out of it. I want everything to be exceptional. It's not just about writing to get stuff out anymore; it's about the writing being perfect. I yearn for my writing to be exceptional, yet that makes it harder to write anything at all. Vicious circle, ya know? I don't mind writing personal stuff about myself. I'm pretty open about all that. Now, I need to get over the myth that everything one creates is fantastic (if anything is...).

We'll see if I can get past all this. In the end, it's the subject I'm writing about that really matters. I have a lot of things floating around my head that I want to write. If I don't get them out, no one benefits from it and I don't even get the opportunity to try to create something new and cool. And that's half the fun, anyway.

I've just installed Bad Behavior for Drupal to try to ward off some spammers and bots. It seems like it's catching some requests for the RSS feed as invalid. Let me know if you're having problems.