Sunday, August 29, 2010

Interview: 5 years later




MMQ: What is different, now?
MMA: Well, everything, except me, and I still have my cat Victor. Ok, not that much. I can't tell.

MMQ: So...how IS it there? I mean, has it recovered?
MMA: WHAT?! NO!! Shut the fuck up. (What is actually said: some variant of 'well, you know, everything is different, blah blah blah' you stupid asshole why would you ask that jesus 'demographic changes' I can't believe I am saying this 'blah. and blah.' I hope no one wants to talk about this anymore.

MMQ: Were you there?
MMA: Yes. I evacuated. I boarded up my house like everyone else, and took 2 bags, a cooler with a porkchop sandwich, and my cat. I didn't go back for 7 weeks, and when I did, everything was dead and it smelled like it. And the same exact thing happened to every other lucky person like me who left when they did.

MMQ: Oh my god! Where did you go?
MMA: I went to Memphis, I went to Knoxville, I went to the Blue Ridge Mountains, I went to Milwaukee, I went to St. Louis, and Iowa, I went back and forth, I went home that wasn't home anymore, and I moved away. I moved away.

MMQ: (Silence).
MMA: (Silence).

MMQ: So, was your family okay?
MMA: (Can you see that maybe this isn't a good thing to ask, horrible fascination? They died hahahahahahahahahahahaha. just kidding! ) I say: 'Yes, they also evacuated. Their house is okay. There was no flooding on their street.' No, they are not okay, but they probably weren't okay before that, so really, it has nothing to do with this, and you don't care anyway. Goddammit.

MMQ: Aren't you sick with the intense media attention/lack thereof/anniversary attention?
MMA: I am sure I would be, except no one here notices or cares. It is far, far away. Sad when someone wins the Superbowl. Otherwise, peaceful.

MMQ: Why did you leave, anyway?
MMA: I needed a job, and, shit - maybe I just wanted to leave a bunch of stuff behind for a while. Maybe a long while. It is not true that you can't get away, unless the thing you are trying to get away from is yourself.

MMQ: That was a bit off topic, wasn't it?
MMA: Yeah, I guess.

MMQ: Anyway, back at the ranch: how are YOU planning to commemorate this dark anniversary?
MMA: I will write an introspective pseudo-interview while listening to some music. Tomorrow I will probably think about it while having some cigarettes. See, I am moving again, and don't have time to attend any prospective parties that no one is having, and thinking about it still makes me want to puke. Not in the sense that, geez, that was handled so badly politically, it makes me sick, but as in it makes me want to throw the fuck up. So, I think this and the smokes is enough.

MMQ: Hmmm, yes. You said you are moving again?
MMA: Yes.

MMQ: Interesting.
MMA: Well, it is only 10 blocks away, and has a garden.

MMQ: That sounds nice.
MMA: I think it will be.

***

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sunny days

It is still quiet in Oslo (I left for a while for a conference/a few days of vacation). All of July and most of august, oslonians retreat to their cabins by the sea (hytter), or travel somewhere else in Norway, or go to the beach in Denmark. Or something else. The point is, they are not around. They are partially replaced by tourists, many Norwegian, from elsewhere, but the population density is still down at least 70%. It is calm and sunny.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Summer this year...

Is better than last year. I like to say better because of how completely unquantifiable it is. It just is. It is more summery and hot and busy and full of blistering skies and all of that. I am not going to complain about being sweaty ever again. I am lying, of course. But let's all check in again in December.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Bear emerges.


Hello there. This carving (from the British museum from my recent trip to London) depicts a polar bear halfway out of the water. Charming! And has a cute face. Anyway, this bear remarks my return to posting to my blog, likely with small snippets and photos and such. If you would like to request something, say, a picture of a duck, just let me know and I will try to oblige!



Molly