Rambling 123008

I've had a peaceful and loving Christmas. I couldn't have imagined more and I feel so happy for the first time in ages. My son is growing up and becoming a man. I'm maturing and becoming a more reasonable person. Despite this depression and horrible financial times facing my country, I can still lay back and read a good book on a full belly.

I'm grateful for the fact that I don't know a thing. I'm not afraid of what's going to happen in the next few months. If there are lives lost it will be for a good cause. I could never live with the fact that my son could look back knowing I did nothing..

Thank you David Oddsson!

I went to the unemployment office this morning and found out that they had lost a few of my papers. I registered on October 27th and was supposed to get money on December 1st. Oh, they lost my papers and there is a man in that chain that wasn't at work that was supposed to finnish the application?

I broke down emotionally and asked the lady how this could be? (I've been raised in total fascism and thought my system would be there for me?). I've basically been without an income for the past 2 months and they do this to me? I've had to beg my relatives for money, my friend and my young son. She suggested that I'd go to the Church for some food......

I woke up from a bad dream and threatened to report them to the Icelandic News. (There are a few news channels here that want to cover the reality of what's going on here.) The lady was shocked and printed out a ticket that gave me a one way ticket to the welfare office.

There was freezing weather today and what saved me was my accountant. I went to his office and took care of closing my freelance business. While I walked to his office I cried my heart out in the Northern cold. It felt so good and I knew I could keep my pride because freezing weather makes you tear so much.
He is a good soul and made me feel human again. He was very disappointed that I had to shut down my business when I was doing so good. I promised to let him know if I'd leave the country. I saw in his eyes fear and hope at the same time? Later on I realized his fear; what if a huge amount of talented people leave Iceland?

Anyway, back to the Welfare Office. I took a few buses and was there by noon. I handed them the paper and found out about the rules about mailing the tax card by snail mail.
(At the welfare office I have to call the Unemployment Office to mail my tax card so I would get the full benefits of 99.000 kr. And then I have to call the welfare office to mail my tax card back to the Unemployment Office when my application goes through?)
I pointed out to one worker that our technology is so advanced, " Why haven't we found a way to do this in computers?"
She looked at me like I was retarded and answered "Then you would loose your tax rights, if you don't have a card to hand in you have lost your 33% tax return".

OK, and I will thank god every night for being different and thinking like I do. Her answer said all there is to say about the system in Iceland.

I took another bus home and thought about my wonderful welfare system in Iceland. I realized my system is designed to break people down and make them lose all hope. The energy and work that went into this day was too much. I understand why some people are killing themselves (Icelandic news have hidden this fact due to an order from the government); they might have a big life saving that goes to the family?
I'm not going to kill myself, I'm going to fight. I can't live with the fact that my son could look back knowing I did nothing to save his country. I'm not going to hope for the better while my Government is selling our banks again. I'm not going to live here in silence when I've heard that there are kids eating out of dumpsters......

A Revolution is Taking Place in Iceland

I went and protested for the 4th time since everything crashed here in Iceland (Oct. 6th). I took my mom with me today and it surprised me that she got into it. At the end of the normal protest about 500 people walked up town to the police station where a young man was being held in custody.

To make a long story short; this man flagged the Bonus flag on the parliament building 2 weeks ago (Bonus has a logo of a piggy bank and is one of the corrupt businesses here). This young man was arrested last night on an old charge which was supposed to have been expired. Anyway, legally the cops weren't supposed to do this but did because this man is a very organized protester and has been protesting the building of dams here for a few years. They didn't want him around the protests today, so they locked him up.

My mother and I arrived a little late at the police station and were really shocked. People had broken up the doors to the station, broken windows and ended up getting maced by the police. There were around 300 people still chanting that they wanted this man released now. People had drums and some were throwing eggs at the police. It was so surreal, I'm watching my Government fall apart. So many people have lost all respect for our authority and it's completely understandable. After about an hour of standing in the rain they let him out. An anonymous man had paid his bail.

This is getting more organized. On December 1st people in Iceland are all encouraged to walk out on their jobs at 3:00 P.M. and head downtown to protest some more. If the people in office haven't left in a week there are some that are threatening to walk into the parliament building and carry them out, haha.

In reality, they don’t give a s%*t if we starve...

My reality as I've known it is gone. I grew up believing that everyone in Iceland was pretty much equal and no one had to starve. Since October 6th I've come to realize that I was in a rich family that used this psychological thought to escape the reality of what has been going on in our society for ages.

I walked into a soup kitchen yesterday in the hopes of getting some food to survive this month. I don't get unemployment until December 1st and I'm too proud to go begging to my parents. I also don't believe in borrowing money from friends; it's hard to pay back and can ruin the friendship.

I was number 64 in line and felt shocked as the lady handed me the ticket. The place wasn't going to open until 3:00 and it was only 2:30. I kept thinking that this is the lowest I've had to go in life. I recalled my abusive relationship from the past and felt grateful for my freedom. After 10 minutes of sitting in a crowded room an old man sat next to me. He had neat clothes on and his skin looked very healthy. I looked into his eyes and saw the despair and hopelessness. This guy was like my grandfather but he was in a soup kitchen? Can it be that my society doesn't give a s%*t if someone starves? Can it be that I've been raised in complete fascism that taught us to judge poor people instead of helping them?

I sat there for an hour and a half and felt shock, despair, anger, and most of all grateful. The least of my worries is a lack of money; the biggest is being alone like that man. I finally got some food in a bag and heard number 163 being called out as I left. As I walked back home I held back my painful cry. I opened the door and my son was home from school. I was so thankful for my life and hugged him. I cooked a good dinner for us and kept the same pace for the home. I realized that a lack of money can't rune us but loneliness can.

The reason I had to resort to this soup kitchen is because my government won't give me welfare until December 1st (the day I get unemployment). I went over the 90.000 kronur a month limit in income. I asked them at the welfare office; "Who in Iceland has that low of an income?" No one has and this rule is helping my fascist country keep the fake reality of thinking they're so good and kind to its people. In reality, they don't give a s%*t if we starve.

An Equal Opportunity Destroyer

This is something I ran across on a forum tonight. So true...

I Am Your Disease
I hate anyone who claims to have a "program". I despise any and all references to a "Higher Power" To all those who come in contact with me - I wish you and your family shame, humiliation, and intense suffering. With you unwitting co-operation, I bring you hell on earth.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the ancient disease of addiction. I am rightfully called cunning, baffling and powerful, but this is a gross underestimation of me. I have killed millions of men, women and children in ways that absolutely defy the imagination. Most often I slowly drown your soul before grinding down your wasted body. I gleefully ruin your reputation, self-concept and self-esteem. I specialize in marital, family, and child trauma. I leave them all with anxiety, fear and troubled dreams. I poison all with calculated efficiency and precision. My commitment to you and your loved ones' degradation and destruction is absolute.

I am the absolute master of disguise and seduction. I mask myself as your lover, your best friend, and your "ace in the hole". With great stealth I invade your rationality. I initially seduce you with instant gratification, with a feeling of peace, a feeling of belonging. I pose as being able to help you cope better, relate to others better and even to work better. I present myself as needed "fuel" for your creativity, your industry and your social and intellectual ability. I make you feel painfully inadequate without me. Toward the end, you will consider dying if you are separated from me.

I am perfect and breathtaking in my pursuit of your mind, body and soul. I am more powerful than your love and commitment to friends, family, spouse, freedom or life itself. You will compromise every decent value you have to serve me. I have established myself a velvet throne within your brain. I have imprisoned the real you. From now on your countenance and actions will mirror my malignance. I will become your flesh.

I never grow weak. I never sleep. I am totally aware at all times. I know where your weakest point is. I tempt and taunt you in your dreams. I can only be exposed by other humans and I can only be displaced by your awareness and action. I can't stand the light of day. I am intolerant of direct exposure. I hate anyone or anything that has the audacity to challenge my ownership of you . I will rage and fight bitterly to keep you. If possible I will kill you rather than let you be possessed by the real you again. I use you to defend me against those that try to help you. Such audacity is mine alone.

I am known as being jealous and demanding. You will offer all of you to me as I dictate. You will lie, steal, cheat, scam, assault and humiliate yourself and others in order to serve me. You will believe in your own lies. I absolutely will not tolerate the disobedience of my subjects. You may at times catch a horrifying glimpse of me and try to run away. You may make these pathetic attempts again and again. But you can never run fast enough because you carry me with you. I control you completely. Yet I am not satisfied with the extent of the corruption that I cause within you. I want more. I want it now and I won't stop shrieking within the back of your mind until I get it.

I refuse to participate with you. I flatly refuse to be moderated by you in any way. I will only consent to outright ownership of you. All of you. Completely. 24 hours a day until your "untimely death" I refuse to make "deals" with you. I will not make any exceptions for you. I am triumphant and pure in my malignance and destruction. I will not answer to you. I will not consult you. I will never, ever ask for your opinion or permission. Let me make this clear. You will forsake all other things, people and places for me. I am relentless in my quest for you.I can strike as fast as a rattler, or I can torment you for decades. Of this be sure -as long as you live- I exist.

Foolish people do not take me seriously. They take strokes, cancer and heart attacks seriously. This is fine with me. Ignorance allows me to flourish unchallenged. I have been killing people like you for millenniums. I am a disease of the mind, body, character, and soul. How unique. The success of my corruption lies within your ignorance of who I am and what I do. I want you to believe that you alone are more powerful than me. I want you to believe that you alone are the exception to the rule. I whisper these lies into your mind with a furious consistency. I make your enemies your friends. I make your friends your enemies. Your understanding of me is bound up in your shame and your elective ignorance. I make you defensive and angry. I make you feel self-pity, that "no one understand you". I make you believe in your own lies. I make you believe that you should be judged by your intentions, not your actions. I make you alone even in the midst of your own family. Suicide is the only options I won't deny you.

Even your own society protects me and my own deviously murderous ways. Well meaning people tell you that I am caused by your supposedly "addictive personality", your previous painful experiences, your maladaptive ways or your inability to think properly. Others tell you that I am caused by your supposed "bad character" or your alleged "immorality". I am again underestimated. Listen Now, I CAUSE PAIN, PAIN DOES NOT CAUSE ME! Actually, I come to you in the form of a genetic fragment. You are born with me. I come alive with the exposure to drugs and alcohol. I am the source of your dis-ease. People confuse me with an elective disease. This philosophy keeps you in shame and within my grasp. I will own your life and gleefully engineer your death. I am the source of your moral and spiritual poverty. I revel in your ignorance.

I take the young and the old. Men and women, the healthy and the infirm. The wealthy, the poor and the middle class. I lay claim to all those within my grasp. I'll take those of all races, all tastes, all customs and beliefs. The moralist, the achievers, the intellectuals, and those of high willpower are those that I enjoy the most. Yet I take it all. I am an equal opportunity destroyer.

Author: Unknown

News from the Taliban up North

For those of you that don't believe that Britain passed the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act on Iceland, Check this link, it's straight off their website:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_currentindex.htm

Then click on this link to get more details about this law:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_landsbanki.htm

Our Banana Republic of a Government in Iceland didn't help in the matter but we have been allies with the British and don't deserve this treatment.

Oh wow, the past two weeks have been surreal for me. I think the reality of the situation in Iceland is finally hitting me. I've been waiting to get paid for an assignment which I did for a Company in Sweden, but since the British passed the "Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act" on one of our banks in England there is no cash coming in or leaving our country. I know I'll eventually get my money but the reality of my country going into real poverty this winter isn't pleasant. I'm going to be a realist and prepare myself financially in the next 2 weeks. I don't have any loans which are considered bad but our cost of living is not going to make ends meet on unemployment. I can put some of my loans on hold; mortgage and student loans for example. I'm not getting any assignments in and the two that I thought were going to start this month have been put on hold.

The good thing about all of this is that I got a longing to go back to school this weekend. If there is going to be major unemployment here I think it's very positive to be educating oneself. The student loans are about as bad as unemployment but have very low interest rates.

More News from the Banana Republic

A few of you have been asking me about what's going on here in Iceland. There are a lot of factors that play into our economy crashing in a week.

Here are a few good links:
Iceland's bank defaults: lessons of a death foretold

Kicking Iceland while it's down

Up to Date News from Iceland in English

I’m not a happy camper today

I have a few assignments this month but have the paranoia that I won't get paid or get paid 2 months late.

Plan B is applying for jobs in Europe. There is actually a good job market for web designers in Brussels and some parts of Scandinavia. Plan C is applying for whatever job I can get here in Iceland and watch my economy sink.

The last of my worries is my extra pension savings I have in the bank. It still pisses me off that the Government has declared an Emergency Law and won't allow people to touch their savings. By the time people can touch it our money might be worth nothing. ARRRGH!

Life does go on and I'm making a great spaghetti dinner for my son and I tonight. My neighbor's son told me that I could catch really cute rabbits up in the hills around here. Hmmm, I wonder how they might taste? You know, just incase ;-)

Major Bank Chaos in Iceland Today!

The Government in Iceland took control of 6 major banks today and stopped all trading. The value of our kronur is almost useless. Since May the value of the dollar has doubled compared to our money.

It feels surreal to be experiencing something like this. I cooked dinner tonight and had a nice talk with my son. The little things that matter in life don't have a price tag ;-)




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7655227.stm

A Stroke Of Insight - Brain Documentary

Thanks for sharing: Smiley

Are Christians delusional?

Thanks for sharing: Take the red pill and free your mind!

Watch these videos, this guy has a sarcastic and humorous way of getting his point across. Answers to questions like: "Why won't god heal amputees?"

How do we know that Christians are delusional?


The best optical illusion in the world!


10 questions that every intelligent Christian must answer

My Sketches

I'm being dramatic and moody today? I've been working late hours this week and it's not a good feeling on the 3rd day.

Anyway, I decided to post some sketches from some of my sketchbooks. I want to start again; painting and creating that is. I think I have to create, it's a way of keeping my sanity intact.

Snæfellsnes

I just got back from my trip and had a great time. It rained alot so we couldn't see the glacier but we ended up going to a few beaches and picking alot of stones.

Just getting out of the city for a few days was great. I managed to unwind and relax. Something I need to do more often. Here are some pictures, enjoy ;-)

Rambling 081208

I just managed to delete everything I wrote on here, arrrgh! I've been working too much and I've been planning a week vacation where I do nothing. I sat at a business meeting today and felt burnt out and my soul needs some time to itself. I need a week where I can hang out at the library, pet my cats, watch some great movies, read and maybe even go camping if the weather is alright.

I did manage to go out of the city in the beginning of August and slept in a tent for 2 nights. It was great to be out in nature with good friends. We went on a 3 hour mountain climb and I found out I'm still in good shape, which surprised me.

Here are some pictures from the weekend, enjoy ;-)

Sessý singing with her son by her side.

She has a beautiful voice.