The Bruce Springsteen Story

It was in ’85 it all started. I was turning seven and Bruce had released Born in the USA. I don’t remember much from being seven, but I remember I loved the song Born in the USA.

My sister was hooked on Bruce and she influenced me. She loved Bruce and I took up on that. When I was eleven or twelve I got a mixtape filled with Bruce song for my birthday. My sister gave me this. I listened to that tape over and over and over.

1993 was a special year for me. It was the year of my first Springsteen concert. I remember the news on the front page of a huge Norwegian newspaper. I went screaming and running around the house. Then I called my best friend Linda who also loves Bruce as much as me. We went crazy together.

That summer in 93, I didn’t listen to other music than Bruce. He was constantly in my new cd-player for three months. Every time I turned off his music, I said out loud: Sorry Bruce, but I have to turn off now.

From that year, I started to collect things about Bruce. I cut out things about him from newspapers. Every little thing I could come over that included Bruce were safely cut out and stored in a plastic bag. I’ve bought a huge flag, calendars, buttons, t-shirts from concerts etc. My bedroom was filled with a huge Springsteen poster and pictures. Everything that I saw on TV was recorded.

Me and my friend Linda, we decided that when we died, we were going to take a picture of Bruce with us in the coffin. And they were going to play ‘the River’ at the funeral, because that was one of our fave songs at the time. Crazy, huh?

Quite early I decided I needed all his music on CD. It wasn’t enough with just a few mix-tapes. My first CD ever was Bruce Springsteen (un)plugged. My sister gave that CD and a Norwegian music magazine called Beat (with a huge Bruce interview) when I got confirmed. I think that, and the stereo my parents gave me, was the best gift I got for my confirmation.

Now that I got every official CD release, I’ve turned to LP’s. I love the sound of the LP and what better is there than Springsteen on LP? I collect old, used Springsteen LP’s and some rare un-official live recordings. I don’t have much, just a few, but the collection will grow.

I also got some books about Bruce and the E Street Band. I love reading about them.

This is the latest. A new LP (Greetings from Asbury Park), a new old magazine and various clippings from this weeks newspapers.

Now, almost 20 years after the madness started, I still collect clippings about Bruce and the E Street Band. It’s just something I can’t stop doing. I think it would feel unnatural to not cut out pieces about him, for some odd reason. I have a huge map with all sorts of things stored.

After the concert in ’93 I thought this would be the last time I would be able to see him. I said that in ’96 and ’99 too, when he played in Oslo. When he came in ’03 I stopped saying it. I knew then that it was impossible to predict what would be the last concert. After ’03, I’ve seen him twice in ’05 (with the Seeger Session Band), twice in ’07 (once in Oslo and once with my friend Chantal in Arnhem / Netherlands) and now two days a row, Monday and Tuesday, in Oslo. On Tuesday I had my 10th concert anniversary when I think about it

My best Bruce memory? That’s easy. It was in May 2005. Bruce was in town and he always stays at Grand Hotel. I was downtown doing some errands after work. Then mum called me. She’d heard on the radio that Bruce might be coming out of the hotel. I walked over to the hotel to see if there was anyone there. I saw some other people waiting and decided to stick around for a while. I ended up staying there for two hours – two long hours. But it was so worth it. Bruce came out. I had my camera ready and took a shot of him. He was walking right by me. It’s hard to describe the feeling of seeing your idol one meter way from you.
The picture I took, turned out all blurry, but that doesn’t matter. I know it’s him I was so happy and ecstatic after he’d left half a minute later. My legs were like spaghetti and my hands were shaking. First I called my mum and thanked her for the lead on where Bruce was. Then I called my friend Linda and then my sister.

So what is it about this man that appeals so much to me? It’s a combination of lots of things.

His music, they way he writes, what he writes about… everybody can recognize something familiar in what he writes. He’s the everyday man who writes about universal things that everyone can relate to.

Bruce is a very down-to-earth man. He’s the man in the street and doesn’t want to be something else. Being famous hasn’t turned him crazy like other turn out. An example of that is this story I read in the newspaper thursday morning.

Bruce went for a walk in the Vigeland-park in Oslo wednesday night (around 22.00). He sees a small group of people (in their early twenties I think) sitting and drinking bear and having a good time. He walks over, sits down and has a chat. The group offers him a beer, he accepts. For half an hour he sits there, talking sharing stories etc. He said that doing things like that brings him closer to people and its fun and giving to feel the reaction this leads to. You got to love a man like that!

It’s not a downside that he’s quite charming and handsome too. His great smile and laughter; can anyone resist that?

My fave Springsteen album and song? It’s hard to say. Album… it all depends on the mood I guess. It might be Darkness on the Edge of Town. Born in the USA is a great album too, with lots of fantastic songs.  When it comes to songs, I think I have to say Thunder Road from Born to Run. It’s a fantastic song and after I once heard him explain the song, tell us what it meant, how it’s built etc, I just loved it even more!

As a last thing, I have to say I’m blessed to have a friend I can share my Bruce-mania with. It’s nice to be two in all the madness!

Summer sighs and mmmm’s

It’s 25 degrees outside, sunny and warm. Still I sigh!

I was supposed to meet my friend Linda today for a Bruce-evening at her parents house. Her brother lives there and he as a cool projector where we can get Bruce up in high-resolution. That’s not gonna happen. She has totally forgotten about the date we had. In stead she’s in fucking Åmål (Sweden) with a friend. Tonje’s parents, they have an apartment there and that’s where they are. They will be home tomorrow I think.

And how did I find out this? Well… let me tell me. I found out an hour ago I wanted to make a chocolate cake. I thought I could bring some to the Bruce-evening. So I started to find all the ingredience I needed. Soon I found out I didn’t have enough flour. And since I’m stuck in nowhere-land (aka Lierfoss),  without a car, I needed to be creative. I took my bike and biked up to my uncle. It’s a two minutes ride. He wasn’t home! Argh. So then I biked back home again. Then I went to see Linda’s mum, Vigdis, who lives like 200 meters away.

She had just enough flour for me. I emptied her jar though. hihi. I sat there for a little whille talking about this and that. Vigdis said Linda was in Åmål. I was like oh, she’s there… I didn’t say anything to it. There wasn’t any necceserry to let her know Linda totally had forgotten about me. So, a little annoyed, I went home to start on my cake.

Back home, I turned on Bruce so I could have something to cheer me up a bit. Suddenly it hit me. For the cake I need four eggs, not two like I had thought. I know the recepie by heart, but today my mind failed for some odd reason. And guess who only had two eggs? Correct - me!

I thought about going back to Vigdis again, but felt stupid to go back. She was on her way out of the house anyway… So I didn’t go back. In stead I called mum to make her bring some eggs home. She and dad, they are helping Hanne & Geir painting in their new apartment. It might take forever before they’re back. *sigh* I tried to ask them about eta, but she couldn’t give me any!

So now I’m stuck here wihtout a Bruce evening, so far no cake and slightly bad mood. Great ay? Jippi ka-hey

Oh god, just whining… I can’t have a whole entry about just me whining!! There is a few good things around here too.

1. Icecream in the fridge.
2. My Håkan Nesser book; Münster’s case.
3. The sun outside.
4. Bruce loud from the speakers.
5. My canon EOS 400D that’s right beside me.
6. Walking barefoot in the grass.
7. Hotdogs with cheese in them. YUM!

I’m your fan

Wow! That man is amazing. I’m refering to Leonard Cohen who I saw with mum at Bislett Stadion today (or yesterday actually because it’s past  midnight).

I’m so happy I bought a ticket to this concert. Cohen is a guy I’ve liked for a long time. I’ve never been a huge fan, but I’ve always loved his hits. I remember mum bought The Future on cassette in ‘92. I think that is the earliest memory I have of Cohen. Looking back on that album I see several great songs; like The Future, Anthem, Closing Time and Democracy. He and the band played them all.

That man, his voice is incredible. It’s deep and beautiful. With the lyrics it comes nothing less than beautiful. I love what he stated before the song Anthem.

Forget your perfect offering.  
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.

What he says is so true. There is no such thing as perfect. Perfect is an illusion.

Cohen started with Dance Me To the End of Love - a great song. And it didn’t stop there. More hits came. Like Everybody Knows, Suzanne, Tower of Song, Anthem, the Future, Ain’t No Cure For Love and Democrazy. There were more known songs than unknown.

He had a 15 minute break after an hour. The man is 73 years old, so I understand the long break. After the break more hits came like Hallelujah, I’m Your Man, Take This Waltz and First We Take Manhatten. I’m not sure in which order all songs came, but that doesn’t really matter.

I had totally forgot about Hallelujah and was very pleased to hear that song. We’e (people in Norway) have been cursed with a cover version of Hallelujah sung by Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen Alejandro Fuentes og Askil Holm. It’s not that they did a bad job, the did great. But the radio stations played it over and over and over and over and over again. And then some more. I got sick and tired of that song. We all did. So it’s nice to hear the song sung by the orign artist Those four Norwegian guys has nothing compared to Cohen.

The thing that I will remember the most about this concert is how blissfull he looked. That smile on his face; it looked like he was so thankfull for all the people who had come and cheered on him after evey song.

After this concert, I will remember him as a gentleman and a very sweet old man.

Place: Bislett Stadion.
Audience: around 12.000
Age: 30 + (adult audience)
How long: about 2h. 50 mins including a 15 min break.

It might be the only concert of him I will get to see. At age 73, you don’t do world tours every year! I’m going to bed as a happy girl tonight.
 

Blargh! I got the urge to eat some candy or icecream. But I’m out in the desert now (my parents house) and the kiosks and gas stations closes at 22.00 (rolls eyes) so I’m doomed. DOOMED!

I’m four days out in my vacation and I feel great, except from dead tired - haha. So what have I been up to since my vacation started. Nothing much. I’ve taken it easy. On wednesday I visited Gro and we had dinner, including her husband. I love her husband, he’s always so funny. He makes me laugh / smile.

On thursday I slutted around, took a lot of picture, posted some of them on flickr, watched TV, ate candy and icecream. I can’t recall doing anything usefull. Just the way vacation should be.

Yesterday I went home to my parents house. Before I went home I went to Rikshospitalet (hospital) with mum. She was getting some results from some tests she’s been doing. Everything was fine and she was very releaved. After I came home I ate dinner and then visted Linda. We talked; I gave her my update, she gave me hers, she gave me some shocking news, etc. Music was on (Bruce among others) and we ate popcorn. Yum!  

Today I’ve spent a lot of time with dad, which have been great. We and mum went to Oslo. Mum would go shopping, like she always do. So she did that, while me and dad went eating at Egons. I ate my usual backed potato and it was delish. Then we went down to Aker Brygge and around that area. We stopped at Kaffebrenneriet (cafe) for icecream and a break.

Mum took a bus home and we went to a footbal match in Drammen (twenty mins from Oslo). We knew it would be a waste of money to go see that match, but we still did. Our team is so so so in deep shit and they play like it’s the first time they’ve had footbal shoes on. Blargh. When the match was over, our suspisions had been right. It was a sucky match, we lost and we threw over 500 NOK out the window. Thank god, I didn’t pay for that ticket.

Tomorrow I’m hopefully seeing Linda again. We halfly planned to meet. And I’m going to see her brother. I got some music for him; Lars Winnerbäck live, Amy Mac Donald, Anna Ternheim maybe and Damien Rice. I love exchange music with him. And he apprecialte it so much too. It’s always nice to

And what’s the plans for next week? Me and mum are going to see Leonard Cohen play at Bislett (Oslo) on tuesday. We’ll be having dinner at Mr. Hong first. Mr. Hong is my fave place to eat in Oslo. Their mongolian buffet is just great!!! I’m gonna visit Ellen one day too, either monday or wednesday. I think it will be wednesday.

At friday I’m meeting Linda and Terje. We’re having a Bruce-evening Gonna watch Bruce on dvd. Terje has a big projector so we’ll get Bruce in high resolution Just the way we like it! Yum! Yum!

I have to go to IKEA one day too. Want to buy a box on weels where I can put my LP’s. I’ve seen one nice box that I want to paint either red or orange. We’ll see how that goes.

What I really should do while I got vacation, is to make a budget or have a overlook at my finances. I have no clue on what my statues is right now. I  know what’s on my account and what people owe me, but that’s about it. Oh and I have to go to my bank and exchange all my coins. I just got an idea… what if i exchange them in euros - then I’ll have money for vacation. At least some. It’s nice to have some euro in cash. Not sure if the bank can give me euro right away or if they have to order it though. They probably have to order it.

It’s eleven days until my salery comes in. And the vacation money. I’ve already got some. I asked to get 2300 NOK and i got that last friday - at the same time as I paid Linda for the festival ticket. Then it’s 4.700 NOK left of the vacation money if I’m not mistanken. I’ve already forgotten how much I’m getting. Doh. So typical me. And the papers are not here, they are in Oslo. Sigh. Why do I have to get the urge for things I can’t have / are impossible? Now I want to sort my money issues. And I want candy. I can’t either of them….

I should stop writing, before it gets all blabbery. Uhm… it might have already gotten to that state. haha. I have written awefully lot tonight. Sometimes I just go on and on and on… It’s like my mind won’t put to rest and my fingers won’t stop typing.

Please. Stop. Now.

Ok. Ok. I’m off. Off to listen to Amy MacDonald’s song This is the Life once more…

 

I heart Sthlm

After a trip downtown to buy a cardigan, a stop at the post office to pick up my three new Håkan Nesser books, dinner, reading the newspapers and some icream, I wanted to watch some TV. I flicked through the channels and stopped on SVT1. What did I find? The premiere of Allsång på Skansen!

Oh boy! Oh boy! oh boy!

Did that bring back some memories? Oh yes it did. Tons of memories hit me straight in the face. About a year ago, actually a year ago tomorrow to be accurate, me and Ellen went on a five-day trip to Stockholm. What a trip!

I fell in love with Stockholm instantly! Everything was so great! I had the most wonderful time in Stockholm with Ellen. We had so much fun. Five days may sound much, but it wasn’t. It was just what

we needed to explore this beautiful city.

Stockholm is a city loaded with great things. Lots of great museums. We visited the Wasa museum, an art-museum among other things. We alos went to two aquariums where they had lots of cool fishes. We even spotted Nemo and Dori

There were sightseeing in Djurgården by boat, which was very nice.

Junibacken (the world of Astrid Lindgrens characteres) got a visit. We had a lovely time with all the kids. The crazy Per-fan (that’s me) visited Mr. Gessle’s front door at Strandvägen 39.

 We ate at some great restaurants, shopped at some supercool stores, had a great time at Gröna Lund where we rode some great carousells, ate some magnificent pizza and watched Timbuktu live! Overall we had a great time in Stockholm.

There is something about Stockholm. It hit me right in the heart. Somehow I just completely fell in love with that city. I get all happy when i think about it and see pictures I’ve taken.

There is something about that town that blew me away. The friendly people, the great places to eat, the shopping oportuneties, Sergels Torg (which is the picture above), the aquariums, Skansen….

Looking at Allsång på Skansen, made me think of all this. It makes me wanna go back there! Like… soon! I wanna have a five day trip to Sthlm again.

I wish I could take Chantie to Sthlm. That would be awesome. i know we would have so much fun over there. I know Chantie is more of a Gothenburg-woman, but I’m sure I can lure her into a trip to Sthlm.  I’m gonna try at least! hihi

Oh and btw, Håkan Hellstrøm and Miss Li was on the opening show. Håkan is cool as always. Miss Li, she’s sort of new and up-coming. Her performans was great! I loved it. Didn’t the get name of the song, but I will sure check her out. I already got some songs by her, but i haven’t really listend to them. Only one or two a few times a while ago.

Sthlm <3 *happy sigh*

Ps. Here are some pics from Sthlm.

A new direction?

I talked to my boss this morning. I told her I might not have enough work to do when I come home from my vacation. It will be the 9th of July. I know July is slow and I’ve experienced less work coming my way that time a year. Everybody got there vacation at that time. We, as in Norway, have joint vacation three weeks in July. Nobody wants new internet connection then. There is also less other things to do. And I’m almost done with the things I had plan to do in July. I’m very up to date with my work and that’s a nice thing.

My boss told me there wouldn’t be any problem. She had things for me to do. We have clients without contracts that we need to fix. And she said something else too….

We have a lot of clients on ADSL with a low speed. We want to upgrade them / give them more speed. And of course make them pay more, I guess. Depends on what they pay now of course. Bente Iren wanted me to try out that job. That means I’ll sort of be a sales-woman. Oh god. I’ve never seen myself as a sales woman.

But others have, believe it or not. My colleague Trine, she thinks I will do great. She has acutally mentioned it to Bente Iren. And I guess that’s why Bente Iren wants to give it a try. Bente Iren mentioned it a while ago and I just laughed and said no to it. I wouldn’t fit for sale.

But who knows… Maybe I’ll do great? Uhm… don’t think so. To be honest, I have no idea where Trine got her hunch from. What does she see in me that makes me a sales woman? I simply can’t see it.

Well, I said to Bente Iren I’ll give it a try. To try won’t hurt. The worst thing that can happen, is that I fail. And I won’t lie down and cry because of it. That’s because I have so low expectations. It will be more like ’see, I didn’t make it’, than ‘ oh no, I suck - let me sit here and sob for a while’.

Uhm… I’m not getting paid to blog, so I better start do some real work. First thing I’m gonna do is to clean my desk. It’s important to have a clean desk when you start wokring. It makes things easier and it’s more inviting to work.

I’m gonna pick up on that email Chantie once sent me about being positive. There’s no use in just whine. Whining won’t get you anywhere in the long run.

Hey ho, lets go

 

Frustration

Sometimes things at work are just shitty. Like today. I had to deal with the usual - me being tired, bored and grumpy because i was out of chocolate. if that only had been it.

Not only do I have to work with stupid clients, I also have to deal with stupid colleagues too. Sigh.

First we have the incompetent clients. The clients that has doesn’t understand shit and call us when there is problems. I shouldn’t be surprised they’re so incompetent, and I’m not, i’m just so annoyed because of them. They are the worst to help, becuse they don’t understand basic things. Like when i ask them to turn off and then on the modem, they are not sure where the modem is and what it look like. “Oh we have so many boxes here, I’m not sure what’s what…” I feel like banging my head in the wall every time I hear someone say that.

And if I’m lucky enough to figure out what’s the problem, I most likely have to get help from one of my colleagues to decide what to do next. I always talk to D (lets call him D). And some times D is not very helpfull. Often there is things he doesn’t want to do, and asks me to do it. He hates to talk to clients and often makes me do it, even though it would be more efficient if he did it himself. I get frustratied and annoyed. And often i don’t want to argue, so i do it.

D is.. what should i say? He doesn’t care for this job. It’s just something he has to do to earn money. it feels like it at least. And he doesn’t do what’s best for the customer, but what’s best for himself.  That’s really annoying, becuase I’m the one who has to talk to the client. Sigh.

I’ve talked to my boss about it and she said i have to tell her if it gets out of hand. I told her i deal with it and talk back. But I know I’m not as tuff as I should be. We need some set of rules. Who’s doing what when etc. I have to talk to her again in August when the summer holidays are over for both of us.

And then we have the re-sellers. We have one re-seller that bugs the shit out of me. The rule is that we have contact with them. And the re-seller has contact with his clients. We don’t have contact with his clients! Period. But he wants it otherwise.

Like today, I asked him a question because we needed some information to try to solve his probelm. I emailed him. Then he emaied me back and asked if I could ask D to contact the client himself,  because then there wouldn’t be so many conversation back and forth between them all.  I was ready to explode when I saw the email. I had to email him back that we would not call his client. That was not our job. I also told him he was the one to have contact with his client, not us. I told him I understood that it was more hassle when i had to contact him, he had to contact his client and then back again the same way, but that’s just how it sometimes when you’re a re-seller. He did not email me back after that…. Mybe he emailed D. I don’t know.  God knows… i didn’t really care earlier today.

It’s ok that he tries to be a smart-ass and wants it the easy way once. But I shouldn’t be needing to tell him over and over and over.  I thought grown up people would understand and follow the rules, but I was mistaken… I don’t know why he even tries. He must know me by now, I’m not going to bend over and kiss his feet. Oh god no.

I really, really, really hope tomorrow will be better than today. I know I can do at least one thing to make things better. When I’m finsihed here, I’m gonna make a note saying chocolate and hang it on the door, so I can by some chocolate for tomorrow.

The next thing I’m gonna do is to go to bed now, so i won’t be ten past dead tomorrow.

Status update…

Mums two pictures got picked up yesterday. Finally. I ordered the pictures online last tuesday and went down to the photo-store on wednesday, but they were temporarly closed. So I had to wait. I tried to pick them up on thursday too, but the store was still closed. I emailed them on friday, on a temp email adresse they had writte on a piece of paper on the store-door.  They wrote me back and said they hoped to be open on monday. Yesterday I called them and luckily they had opened again.

The pictures came out nice. It’s not my fave pictures, but my mum liked them, so I should be happy. They are in the same color-range (green, red and white) and that’s good. They will look good next to each other

I’m not any closer to finishing my flower-pictures. It was sunny outside yesterday, but too windy for my liking. It’s hard to get a good picture when the wind is blowing and the flowers are moving all the time.

Today it will be raining. At least that’s what the weather cast said this morning. 16 degrees, no sun and some rain. YAY for that…

I just have to edit some of the pictures I already have taken. I did take a few ones monday evening. Maybe one of them will work? Lets hope so.

 

Assignments

Last year, for mums birthday, I have her pictures I’d taken myself. It was two pictures of our cats that hangs in my sisters old room, two pictures of our garden / property that hangs in the kitchen and three flower-pictures that hangs in my mums office at the school I work.

For her birthday this year I gave her two new pictures to hang up in the kitchen. The white wall needed two more to be complete. It’s two more pictures of our property / garden.

The pictures in her office has gotten a lot of complements from her colleagues. They all like them. And mum is so proud and tell them all that it’s me that has taken them :) 

Now has one of her colleague, who has her office next to mum, asked if I can take some pictures for her office too. Cool, ay? She wants flower-pictures just like my mum has. I’m not sure how many she wants, but I think I’ll be taking four pictures.

I will concentrate on wild-growing flowers out in the nature I think.  Not flowers bought in a market and put in a pot n the balcony. That’s my plan at least. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve taken some pictures already, but I’m not satisified with them. I need these pictures to be 100% perfect.

I’ll present the result on my flickr account and post a link here when I’m finished!

Mums birthday

It’s mums birthday on saturday. And of course I’ve made her a card. Since it’s summer, I chose a green and yellow theme. I like this card a lot.

As a birthday-gift I’ve put together a few things:

- a dvd with Trond Viggo Torgersen. (funny comedian / tv guy). It was on sale.

- two pictures of Lierfoss. Taken by me, choosen by mum.

- four square plastic things to have under your plate when you eat. I have no idea what it’s called. I don’t even remember the norwegian word for it at the moment. Total blackout. lol. They were on sale

- a cake with candles on top. One candle for each letter in her name. Very cute!

I’m making the cake today and I’m going home tomorrow to celebrate her