Choices

In Norway, this time of year is when young people decide what they want to study and apply for universities. So I am, along with many others, trying to find out what I want to study, and in extension what I want to 'be when I grow up'. It is so hard! I wish it was laid out for me like a shining road, clear and defined. Personally, I get very confused when I realise that I have insanely many options (1309, in case you were wondering) and that's just counting the ones in Norway! There is a whole other world of options if you take into account the possibility of going abroad to study. And it's not like it's a few types of subjects you can take many different places, no, there is everything from African studies to web design! I am far too spoilt for choice. And the massive amount of possibilities just makes the choice I have to make harder.

I mean, how am I supposed to know what I want to do? They say you should follow your heart, but how can you when your heart is behaving like a compass on the south pole? I'm confused... I wish there was just a scan or a gigantic test that would give a clear and defined answer that was tailored to every aspect of me...but I suspect that is a bit too much to expect... Oh well, I'll just have to try to figure it out on my own and make loads of mistakes on the way. They say you learn from them, so let's hope so.

I realise I haven't blogged about the books I have read in quite a while, so I have some catching up to do. Since my blog post on children's books I have read seven books I haven't blogged about. I read The BFG, Matilda and Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. I have re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and read the first book in Norwegian in this challenge. And I still haven't finished Emma... I liked The BFG and Matilda just as much as I thought I would, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was as good as last time I read it. I loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which was really interesting and fun to read. It was strange reading a book in Norwegian again, and it was even in New Norwegian, but I liked it very much. I have introduced star ratings to my 30 books page, so you can check out how much I liked the different books.

Books read: 11
Pages read: 3291

Why does it matter?

Why does it matter
what colour my skin has?

Why does it matter
what gender I am?

Why does it matter
where I come from?

Why does it matter
who I love?

Why does it matter
what I believe in?

Why does it matter?
Why do we care?

We are all humans.

We are just the same.

Erasers

I thought that I should write a blog today, but I was completely blank when it came to ideas. So I asked my sister and her boyfriend for some help, and one of the suggestions was 'erasers'. So I thought: why not? I think I could manage to write a blog post about that, so here we go.

The first thing I must say is that erasers are terribly useful things. Just being able to remove what you have written – it is so handy! And the page looks so much tidier than if you crossed out the mistakes you made. It's almost like magic, just removing what was there before by rubbing a thing on the paper! It's also quite useful when drawing, for example if I am drawing a horse and then suddenly a line is on the paper horizontally from the stomach forwards. It's very nice, then, to have an eraser on hand, ready to wipe out the mistake you made so that you can finish a drawing which you will be pleased with.

Mistakes are fairly common in life too. Sometimes I wish an eraser for life existed. I would love to be able to remove all the things I've said (especially about other people) that I have regretted. Also being able to erase pain or disease without medication would be really great. Some experiences would also be really nice to erase. And think of being able to blot out feelings, for example just blotting out the feeling of being down, or the inevitable hurt that life always throws at you. How wonderful that would be!

And just think of the possibilities for celebrities, politicians and criminals! They could erase decisions and actions just like that! Although...all this erasing would lead to paradoxes akin to those connected to time travel. Especially if everyone could just suddenly decide to change the past. Suddenly the road you were driving on disappeared, or worse, you would vanish because someone erased a decision which was linked to you being born. Hmm...I suppose the life eraser wasn't such a good idea anyway.

But what about an eraser for your surroundings? For example, you could just erase the snow in your driveway or erase the tree that is blocking your view and sunlight. Or someone could play a trick on you and make your chair disappear as you were sitting down. You could erase the clouds so that you could have clear sky to see the sun or the starry sky, depending on the time of day. In short, the possibilities are endless.

However, such erasers do not exist, and I think that is just as well. The chaos it would create if everyone had any type of life eraser is unthinkable. Although some of the effects undoubtedly would be nice, this sort of thing could of course be used (as most ingenious inventions) for evil purposes . Oh well... We'll just have to live life and tackle the things it throws at us. All the same, it is always nice to dream...

Books read: 11
Pages read: 3225

It's all an illusion!

Have you ever thought about how what we see is not always what is actually there? Well, I have. Especially when I learnt about atoms and how light and sight works. In short, everything is built up of tiny little things that we can't see, and what we see is just the light's reaction with those tiny little things. (if you want this in song form, see here). The thing is, those tiny little things (aka atoms) are mostly made up of empty space! They aren't solid little balls, they're mostly empty space! So when you see and feel a table, you think it is solid, but most of it is just nothing! It sure blew my mind the first time I learnt about it, and it continues to blow my mind every so often.


But there are other illusions we meet in daily life. Take a look at the picture above.
What do you think it is? Don't peek, think first! OK, have you made up your mind? Keep it made up, because now I'm moving on to something else.

A very important illusion in our day is the illusion of happiness, or rather the illusion of what it takes to be happy. There are many such illusions, and I will name a few: you have to be pretty, thin, rich, famous, and sexy. These are all ideals which many aspire to, and many also feel that these ideals judge them. But these things are mostly what I just said: illusions. Especially the 'being thin' one. Pictures of people (especially girls) in adverts are very often manipulated to make them look slimmer than they really are, and often slimmer than what is normal and healthy. I don't know if this has been done to this one (see below), but it is an example of such an advert. (It is also the answer to my question earlier: the picture above is a close-up of this poster, so the poster is an illusion in itself. An illusion in an illusion...ooooh...) It is important to realise this, and it is important to care for our bodies in a healthy way. I still have some way to go on this, but my goal is to be healthy, not to be as thin as the girls in adverts. If you want to hear more on this subject, check out what Evanna Lynch (who plays Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films) wrote about it here.

I guess what I am trying to say is: don't believe everything that you see. Think for yourself, and don't let the media pump you full of lies about yourself and other people.

Books read: 10
Pages read: 3089

PS: Since no one commented on the issue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I have decided to include it in the '30 books' challenge and the book and pages count. This will be the case for all re-readings in the future.

Dreams

Dreams are strange things. Sometimes you wake up feeling utterly confused by the movies that have played in your head while you were sleeping. Other times, you battle through your dreams all night long, and wake up exhausted even though you don't remember what you dreamt. And sometimes your dreams stick with you long after you dreamt them even though you only dreamt them once. Some dreams come again and again, night after night, while others just come and go as swiftly as the wind. When I was younger, I would frequently wake up and cry from a nightmare. Sometimes the dream would be so scary that I would totter into my parents' room and lie in their bed for a while till I thought I could manage to go to bed again. Now, my nightmares aren't that scary. I quite often find myself in a dream contemplating whether it is enough of a nightmare to wake myself up for. Quite often, I find that the answer is no. It is quite weird to have those kinds of dreams.

When I think of dreams, I often think of the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis (which has recently been made a film, see my blog post about it). In the book, they visit the Island where Dreams come true. They rescue someone from it who tells them what the island is called. The men on board think that their daydreams will come true on this island, but, as the rescued man explains to them, they are mistaken. The Island where Dreams come true is an island where your real dreams come true - the ones you dream in the night! And think of living in that weird and changeable world that is your dreams! Even if you are not experiencing a nightmare, it would be scary. I often dream that my surroundings change and that my dream companions change appearance from real people to Disney characters and back again. Think of that actually happening! The thought makes me shudder. I guess I am really happy that my dreams aren't my real life.

I have recently bought a beautiful edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling, and therefore I decided to read it again. Do you think I should count in my 30 books project even though I have read it before? I know I said I would only read new books, but I want to ask you this time. Should it count in my 'books read' and 'pages read' count? Please leave a comment below telling me what you think.

Books read: 8
Pages read: 2357 (+145 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

PS: I have now read a quarter of all the books on BBC's Big Read List! Hooray!