Vinter

Check out my new winter hat!

Anne's post on winter made me want to write about winter too, especially since I'm experiencing a real one for the first time in a long time. The weather has turned spectacular here in the Oslo region -- brilliant sunshine, bone-cracking cold, and mounds of pristine snow. If winter has to be cold (a proposition that I, as a Pacific Northwesterner, question) at least let it be like this.

What I don't like: the layer upon layer of outerwear it takes just to step outside the door; the limits to my mobility (I don't really ski, don't yet know how to bicycle on ice, don't yet feel comfortable driving, have trouble walking on the icy sidewalks, etc.)

What I do like: the briskness; the silence; the sound of walking on snow (especially snow on the wooden ferry landing at Aker brygge); the minimalist look of our yard covered in snow; the good excuse for doing tons of knitting.

I can't say that I experience the wild seasonal swings that Anne does. I'm a bit envious! But I'm basically a very even-keeled person. I'm also a basically comfort seeker. I like summer because it takes less effort to dress for it and because there are berries and flowers around. As long as I'm comfortable (not too hot, wet, or cold), I'm not all that affected by the season.

Yesterday was a strange day for me. I had a very short work day, since KE was sick and I needed to help out more with E. But it was also incredibly productive. I have had two articles languishing for quite a while now, and both had deadlines at the end of January. My nasty cold knocked me off schedule. I hate missing deadlines and am usually early for everything, so this was really eating away at me. For some reason, both of them finally came together yesterday. I know neither of them is as good as it should be, but luckily I have the luxury of getting editorial feedback and a round or two of revisions, so I'm hopeful that they'll eventually turn out decent.

One is the Anne Holt article I've mentioned earlier, and the other is an article on Erlend Loe's Doppler and Volvo lastvagnar. I have no idea whether the journal I submitted it to will accept it, and I'm a little anxious since I go against the mainstream of what has been written to date about this particular author (I find him very nuanced and intelligent, while he is usually disparaged for being totally superficial). I wrote it in Norwegian since it was based on my job talk for the position here in Oslo. That is getting easier and easier for me to do. I've learned that as long as I don't translate from one language to another (i.e. not take a conference paper in English and revise it as an article in Norwegian or vice versa), I'm usually okay.