: Rearranging the LAN-space.

I had a LAN this weekend, for a couple of friends of mine, Terje and Rune, that had their birthdays during the last week. Well, that's the excuse we used anyway, not that we really need one to have a LAN, but hey. Not gonna say much about it, except that it was awesome as always. If you need proof, here's a video from this weekend, created by Yrjan. Enjoy.

After everyone had left on Sunday, another friend of mine, Thor, who unfortunately wasn't able to attend the LAN, stopped by with a present for me; A TV. I spent the rest of the evening wondering how to put it in a spot where it would actually be useful, and not just a huge paperweight. Long story short; I failed. At about 1:30am I decided that the best way to make it useful was to rearrange my living room. So I did. The next 3-4 hours I spent moving stuff around and setting my computer and network equipment back up. I guess that in total, there's not that much difference here. It's really just the two "back corners" that have switched places. Everything close to the exit is in the exact same place as it was, and the table and couches in the middle hasn't really moved either. It makes a huge difference, though. And I got a very nice position for the TV.

TV placed in a spot where everyone can see it!

Not much difference, except that it's "backwards".

The network equipment is also in a better place compared to where people will be sitting, I think. I am the one who'll always be farthest away from it, and I'm already hooked up and my cables have been taped down. So, no more need for insanely long cables. I've also added more extension cables that I had laying around (I've no idea where I've gotten all of them from), so it's easier for people to set up right away when they get here. At the moment the other corner-desk (which you can't see in these pictures) is a bit buried under stuff again, but I'll clear that out before the next LAN.

: 2012 - Looking Back | 2013 - Looking Forward

Looking Back

2012 was a weird year for me. It started off with something I had hoped I never had to do, which was breaking up with someone I was still very much in love with. It's actually one year ago tomorrow. I still wish it hadn't happened, but there's not much I can do about it now. And, as I've said before, it was probably for the best. At least now we're still friends, something we might not have been if we had kept on trying.

A couple of months later I started talking seriously with another girl, and spent the next 6+ months trying to make something happen there. 6+ months of disappointment and bad choices. No matter what I tried, something always came in the way, and a couple of months ago she decided that it wasn't really worth it. Or, as she said, it would be better for me to find someone who had time for me. Which I guess is true. 

I'm still looking.

In February we went down to the Netherlands to celebrate Ronald's birthday and Aldert's marriage anniversary. And in September, a bunch of them came to Norway to visit us in Hemsedal. Fun times, both times. I feel like every time I spend time with them I get a slightly better grasp of the Dutch language, at least I understand it a bit better. I'm still far off from being able to speak it, and I just can't learn it on my own. There has been some talk about me going down there for a while, to stay there for a few weeks and learn the language that way, but it's not really a top priority for anyone at the moment, unfortunately.

In April, I think it was, I had a big "falling out" (the problem was mostly on my part, really) with someone I'd had a very close relationship with for a long time, someone that I think knows me better than most people do, and I had to do something else that I never really wanted to do; Remove someone completely from my life. However, when someone has been such a big part of your life (without actually being a part of my life), it's hard to really forget about them. And I've often caught myself thinking about her. I've recently started talking to her a bit again, but due to our complicated past, I feel like I can't let her back into my life in the same way as before.

I've lost quite a lot of weight this year. Although, considering it's been an entire year, it's not really that much. And I still have a long way to go. But whatever. My weight has for the most part slowly but steadily gone down. And particularly after I got the elliptical trainer. I'm not really sure what my weight was a year ago, 'cause I didn't have a scale back then, but I think it was about 135kg. I'm now down to about 122kg. So about 13kg in a year, that's not too bad. Unfortunately, the last couple of months have been absolutely horrible for my motivation and energy, so I haven't really worked out at all. I probably could've been below 120 by now. Oh well.

After I broke up with my ex I decided I wasn't gonna go back to my old self, I wasn't gonna become a shut-in again like I was before. I don't really remember anymore what my plan actually was, but the point of it was to get out more and spend more time with friends. I'm sorry to say that I haven't really followed up on that. I don't really know why. It just never happened. I guess part of it is because I don't have any way of getting around on my own. And I've never really been the kind of guy that goes anywhere without there being a special occasion anyway... So, yeah. I want to change that, I just don't know how.

On major thing that has changed since this time last year, is my apartment  A year ago it was filled with all kinds of stuff and trash, it was a complete chaos. In a way there's still a bit to do, but compared to back then it's infinitely better. Unfortunately it seems I won't get that help cleaning my apartment properly that I was promised for most of 2012. For some reason it was impossible for social services to dig up someone who could do it for me, which I find really odd. And I don't really know what has happened to the whole deal now. It would've been so nice to get this fixed, to have my apartment cleaned properly by someone who knows what they're doing, but... It seems it's not gonna happen.

And that's all the significant things I can remember about 2012 right now.

Looking Forward

I don't really have any plans for 2013. Well, except for one. I was lucky enough to get enough money to start working on my driver's license, so I'm gonna do that soon. Not sure when, but I'm gonna go down and talk to someone some day soon. I just want to get some other stuff sorted out first, if I can. Other than that, I don't really know what I want to do this year. I can't even think of anything significant that's relevant to me that'll happen this year. So... Yeah. But I guess having one plan is better than none. Everything else is just "business as usual"; Keeping up with the changed lifestyle and getting back to working out. Hopefully lose another 12kg, or more.

Right now, though, I'm not gonna do anything. Yesterday I had my last wisdom tooth pulled, and area around was seriously infected, so it still hurts quite a bit. It was also really stuck in there, so the dentist had to really use his might to get it out, which means it's also really sore. Painkillers work, fortunately, and it's a lot more manageable than before it was pulled, but it still wears me out pretty fast. Eating and drinking is a bit awkward too, as I want to disturb the healing as little as possible. So for now I'm gonna care about nothing, and probably go sleep a bit. 

See ya.

: Walk of Life

Been quite a while since my last update now. No wonder, as there haven't been a lot going on lately. Mostly just waiting for a couple of things to happen that never happens.

I'm still waiting for the help I was gonna get with properly cleaning my apartment. Apparently, the people they had found to help me are working under the table, or whatever the expression is. Basically they don't pay taxes. And as a governmental department, NAV can't exactly support that. So I don't know what is going on there. Hopefully they figure something out soon. I've come to a point that I'm really just maintaining what I have already done. There's very little actual progress going on here.

The other major thing I'm waiting for is... Private. I just hope it happens soon. =)

As for my working out, I've tried out a few new exercises that I think works fairly well. I've also gotten an elliptical trainer, and that thing is really rough. I've tried using one of those before, but I had forgotten just how hard it is. Tried using it for the first time yesterday, and I could barely do 3x4 minutes. Actually, I couldn't, the second attempt was only 3,5 minutes. They say it's one of the best machines to use for fat-burning, though, so I hope that's true.

I was at the nutritional adviser again today, for my monthly diabetes check-up, and she wasn't very pleased with my sugar levels. She talked to my actual doctor for a few minutes, and they concluded that I should increase my diabetes medication dosage drastically. Up until now I've only taken one in the morning and one before bed. Now I have to take two in the morning, two mid-day, and two before bed. That's three times as much as before. Apparently this will also help with my weight-loss, so... Yeah. I'm crossing my fingers for that. For the next two weeks, though, I'll have to keep a very close eye on my sugar levels, in case it goes too low.

Oh, and the fiber-connection will take longer than expected. Apparently, there's a specific area that will get it first, and I'm just outside that area. They've been around setting up posts in front of all the houses that will get it now, I see them everywhere, but not one in the part of the street that I'm on. I got a letter from Telenor as well, saying that I won't get it until January. So, yeah. Bah. I guess this means that when I have LANs with more than four people, any games that require being connected to the internet will be absolutely lowest priority.

The title this time is from Dire Straits' "Walk of Life".

: That's life.

I usually try to avoid writing more than one blog post (on the same blog) in a single day, as I don't want to "overexpose" my blog. Usually this is not a problem, as I usually write three to five posts spread over a month, but right now my brain is working overtime, causing me to lose sleep again, and I just have to write it down. I'll probably wait until tomorrow morning to actually submit it, though.

Diabetes

Days like today (technically yesterday), while very nice for my overall life, is not very good for my diabetes. I spent a lot of time out of the house today, walking around, talking with relatives and stuff like that. Basically being my somewhat crippled form of social. But as a result, my rather strict eating-routines have been severely disturbed today. Last time I went to the "diet-adviser", that I go to about once a month due to my diabetes followup program, she told me that I had developed a nice rhythm in my eating habits, but also that I still ate a bit too much every time I ate. So she gave me some new advice, which was basically; Eat even less every time I eat, but also eat more often for a while. The goal, she said, was to make my stomach used to smaller amounts of food at a time, and eventually get back to the old rhythm with the smaller portions. I guess it sounds more complicated than it is.

The problem with this is that it makes my life very... Strict. While it's usually advised that people eat every three-four hours, I now have to eat every two-three hours. And when going out or visiting someone, that's quite a hassle. Today, when I was down in Dokka with my grandmother and some other relatives, I started getting hypoglycemic (low blood sugar, resulting in shaking, feeling ill) because I hadn't eaten in such a long time (which really wasn't more than about four hours, but considering the small amount I ate...), and I ended up buying an ice cream to at least get some sugar in me. And then I was invited to dinner at my grandparents', which is nice, but they were so vague about when that I again went almost four hours between meals, and again almost got hypoglycemic.

I need to make some sort of system for when I get in situations like that.

Exercise

So, April haven't been a good month for walks. Either the weather's been awful or I've been sick. Or it's been easter. So yeah, I haven't really been able to follow up on all those long walks I had in the end of March. But I'm starting to get into a nice habit of other types of exercise, that aren't weather- or health-dependent; I've started using the ancient exercise bike that I got from my grandparents, and I've started doing push-ups. The exercise bike isn't the best thing around. The speedometer/timer-panel has broken off, so I had to tape it back on, and the gear-thing is really weird, so it's really difficult getting it to a resistance that feels ok. But it's good exercise, I'm completely exhausted after 5+10+10 minutes on it. The push-ups aren't something I thought I'd be able to do, but after trying it only from the knees up, instead of full ones, I figured it's better than nothing. I can do about 3x8 of those right now, up from 3x5 when I first started.

Weird things.

I've also gotten these weird things, which I don't know if actually helps in any way. I do feel it in both my hands and arms if I use them for a while, so I guess there it at least some benefit to it. Or something.

Love-life

I don't want to talk too much about this yet, but I have met someone that I really like. Or, I haven't actually met her yet, but I'm hoping that it won't be too long until I can meet her. But I've been talking to her on and off for quite a while, and even more the last few days, and... Yeah. She seems great. I'm looking forward to finding out where this goes. Hopefully it actually goes somewhere. =)

I am a bit concerned about the age-difference, though. She's almost ten years younger than me; She turns 18 in a couple of weeks, I turn 28 in September. But... Yeah. I don't know. Hopefully, I'm worrying about nothing.

Apartment

It's getting there!

I'm still working on getting my apartment ready for LAN's again. Now you might think that it couldn't really be that much work, that it couldn't possibly actually take this much time... And you're right, it really shouldn't. I've been working on it for about two and a half months in total now (or maybe closer to just two), so I really should be done with it by now, several times over even. But it's not as simple as that. First of all; My apartment was in a very, very, very poor state when I started working on it. I had tons of junk that I had to throw away, as it was useful for nothing except wasting space. And I still have stuff that I need to throw away, only I can't without paying for it. And I don't have the money to pay for getting rid of trash. 

Second; I'm not a fast worker when it comes to stuff like cleaning. It's not that I'm bad at it (although I'm not exactly good at it either), it just takes me a long time. And due to my general physical condition (which has been getting better due to exercising), I can't do it for very long at a time. I have to take frequent breaks, which often gets me derailed, and I end up only half-finishing something. 

Combining the poor starting state of my apartment and the fact that it takes me a long time to get things done means that, while there is overall progress, the things that I've finished must be redone several times, which means that the closer I get to finishing, the longer it takes to progress further. It's frustrating. But fortunately, there's a light in the end of the tunnel. I've gotten support from Nav to get my apartment professionally cleaned, once. To get me back to a starting point, meaning I can focus on maintenance rather than restoration. This is a one time deal, and I only get this help now because I never got anything like it back when my sleep disorder was an actual problem. Back then I was so out of it I didn't even notice how bad it was.

I do now, though, and this is the one big thing that's keeping me down at the moment, to the point that it's, indirectly, one of the main reasons why the relationship between Wenche and I broke. And... Yeah. I just want to get things to a point where I can feel good about having visitors. I mean, I don't really feel too bad about it anymore, but there's still a lot of improvements that need to be done. And until they're done I really don't want to have any LAN's.

Almost ready for LAN, but not quite.

The only problem now is that I have no idea when I'll get this professional help...

Well, that was a little bit about everything that's been going on in my life recently. I've probably forgotten something, but I think this is more than enough for one update. =P

: Easter.

This has been a very lazy easter.

First of all, the weather hasn't been too great, it's been cold and unpleasant, so I haven't felt like going for any walks. The last couple of days have been even worse. The day starts of with snow, then it melts during the day, and it's just cold and wet. The last walk I did was last Saturday, the 31st. It was cold then too, but I decided to go for a walk anyway. The problem is that the lower the temperature is, the more my right leg acts up. It's very uncomfortable to walk on it. I still walked 8km that day, which is a new record, but the first three were so bad I don't want to do it again. I want the weather we had when I first started walking outside of Dokka to come back.

I've also been LANing the entire easter. Rune came to my place on the 30th, and we had a mini-LAN here at my place, playing quite a lot of Titan Quest. It felt almost like back in the day when he basically lived at my place for months at a time. Then on Thursday we went to Marius and Veronica's place for a bigger LAN. Not a lot of games being played that I want to play, but it was still nice. 

On Friday Rune and I went to Gjøvik, to eat at Peppe's, and to meet some friends that at least I don't see very often. Rune, Hallgeir and I usually try to go to Peppe's whenever he's in the area, and try to drag with us as many other people as we can, that want to go to Peppe's. Hallgeir brought his girlfriend, Shauna, so we got to meet her for the first time, and she seems very nice. They both came to the LAN the next day. The others we managed to drag with us this time were Terje and Ane, and Yrjan and Tonje.

My appartment still isn't quite ready for arranging real LAN's of my own again. It's getting there, but there's still a few things that need to be done. One of them being finding someone to drive the couches I've gotten from Veronica from her place to mine, so I'll have places for people to actually sit. So if anyone can help, either you have a big van or a car with "tilhengerfeste", it would be very nice. 

: Going into the closet.

So! I'm working on fixing my apartment. I've emptied the "closet", or whatever it's called, in the back of my apartment, where I've been storing all kinds of useless crap for the last eight years, and more or less cleaned out the corner behind me, where stuff have been gathering since the "closet" got too full. 

The "closet" after almost completely emptying it.

I have also, with help from my grandfather (as I don't have a drivers license), delivered a lot of crap at the dump. I still have to go at least two more times, I think, just to get rid of all the stuff in my apartment that I have no use for. Not counting the couch and half-a-chair that has been in my driveway for more than half a year now. But my brother-in-law is going to help me with that, talked to him on the phone about it earlier.

What I'm working on now, is what to put back in the "closet". I had an idea of storing all my comics there, as there are quite a lot of them, particularly when I include everything that once belonged to my uncle Gustav. So I've spent quite a while now sorting them, putting them in chronological order. But I realize that I have no way of storing them that is easily manageable and easily accessible. I can put them in stacks, but there's no way to easily access them that way. I can line them up, but that can quickly turn into chaos if they fall over or something. I wish I had the skills and materials to make some shelf-setup, or something.

How it looks now, sorted but unorganized. Still a lot of comics not in here.

Oh well. I'll probably figure something out, at some point. If anyone has an idea, though, please tell me. I'd love to get this out of the way quickly, as there are quite a few boxes of comics in my living room and bedroom right now, and it's really the biggest issue right now, before I can go any further. I guess I can just move those boxes into the "closet" as is, but... That feels wrong somehow. I just really want to organize these comics for once. But, i guess that ultimately, that's not what matters here.