Miss Kolka

The financial CRISIS - its all you hear about, its all the media care about and no matter how many reports I have listened to I still don't know why it happened and how its actually going to affect average citizens, the ones who never had enough money to invest to begin with and still struggle to make ends meet. So who is losing it all here?

It seems to me that the system we live in is controlled and made by and for the rich. Sure a healthy economy needs strong financial institutions, but lately these were making billions of profit - unhealthy amounts really - and spending it like crazy on who-knows-what. With bank directors getting up to 300 times higher salary than their avarage workers (and working in a bank normally pays well) . An institution can not run effectively with only one person working there - you need them all, like in any successful company. Good management is important yes but I really don't see how these salaries can be justified, even in a competetive work environment. How were these profits made? Through you and me, do know how much you pay in interests every month? Neither do I.

And being a lawful citizen, now I know that the money I paid in taxes will also go to the same people, helping them out so they dont have to suffer, continuing to live their expensive lifestyles,  one, by the way,  that I will never afford. Because it doesnt matter how much money I make, there always seems like there are some student loans to pay or a tax I didnt plan for. Lets spend the tax money in saving the banks. Of course. But then lets not be surprised there isn't any money left for education, health care, social justice or making improvements in our environment. Because the money should go into emergency plans like these and oh, I almost forgot expensive defense programs, arms manufacturing and paying alot of money to those in charge. That's only fair. Remember, this is what you vote for people. EVERY year! When will people realise that the right, republicans or whatever you want to call them is taking care of their own, the wealthy ones, the banks and their friends. And no, you are not one of them.

Well some dont take it too seriously, with all the funny videos out there on the internet (Save-a-firm, adopt a financial insititution etc.) Maybe its just better to laugh than cry.

So I had heard about them quite alot, even had some warnings, warnings that I ignored of course because I believed in my roots and somehow hoped I would be protected. Or at least that by closing my eyes I would not be affected by these little party-poopers that everyone had been talking about. But noooo, you can't just ignore them, or not answer the phone - if they want to invite themselves, they will, even if you told them to stay away. The stretch marks have arrived.

I thought I had been careful enough in my diet, well at least this last past month - not eating too much - after the overweight midwife had rolled her eyes over my weight gain, and drinking plenty of water - which is good for the baby, and now this is going to sound selfish - but also good for the skin. I also had heard that genetics played a major role and since my mother (who almost lost weight during her pregnancy) didnt get any, I thought that she would have passed that luck around. But as with many of her features I was hoping for (no bodyhairs, slim legs, and feminin features) I seem to have lost on that one too. Not to worry, I dont think its going to be a life-altering matter, that Im going to loose my job over it or that its going to change my view of parenthood, the major change is perhaps that the boyfriend has now to add this to the what he finds a sexy pregnancy look - do not forget to mention the strech marks please, they are  now part of this. And actually the more I think about it, I find this just a confirmation of my womanhood. Especially since I found this on the internet:

Other factors include: ethnicity/skin tone (fair-skinned women tent to get them more), nutritional history (a sensible diet helps skin to stretch better), skin condition (dry skin tends to be less elastic than well nourished skin) and the amount of weight gained during pregnancy (also how rapidly it was gained). If you are carrying multiples, carrying a large baby, have excess amniotic fluid or are naturally thin or small- you may have a higher than average incidence of stretch marks.

So according to my research I have stretch marks because I have fair and beautiful skin, I am naturally thin and because our genetic make-up is so good that we are having a big baby (a before-mentioned viking I will remind you). Everybody wants big babies (but not the 12,5 kilo baby born in Bangladesh though) So What is there not too be proud of - I can say I got two tattoos, one that I got when I was young and adventurous and another one when I got pregnant. Two symbols of happy times. They deserve to be celebrated.

How important is it to have a talk with your mother when you´re pregnant?Very. Thats why mine flew over from the homecountry to spend a little weekend in Paris. While she was here, the economy of Iceland plummeted, banks went broke in Europe and Palin made more disastrous interviews with Katie Couric. But we didn´t care as the weather here was beautiful and we talked about babies. Very important indeed and reassuring.  I learned a few things, how immensely Pan is considered by my families, both on the French and Icelandic side, that my dad was ahead of his peers when I was born and was very involved in my upbringing and renewed my knowledge of crochet knitwork. Unfortunately I had to take it extra easy due to a few contractions felt the days before the arrival but that didn´t influence our fun. And we had alot time to talk. Good for the baby to hear some icelandic outside the womb. Plus now I have the lyrics to the icelandic lullabies of my childhood.  Or perhaps babylicious will prefer songs in French? Well, that´s something we wont know until early next year...

see pictures from the visit on Flickr

So according to a new scientific study there is a direct correlation between how your bedroom smells and the dreams you have. So if you smell Roses for example, your dreams should be nice and sweet. However, if you smell rotten eggs before going to sleep (what?!) then you are more likely to have bad dreams. I cant say I have bad dreams every night, but there is alot happening in my (not so) tiny little head. People appear in my dreams that I haven't seen for decades (yes Im getting THAT old) and Im not even thinking about. It can be quite confusing -especially to wake up suddenly in another world but then I get the kick that reminds me of who and where I am and that I should move slowly...

I thought my bad dreams (and Pan's) were due to us watching to many horrendous Special victim's Unit episodes... however, now we can continue to watch these useless shows about murders and kidnappings (very positive thinking) since I see very clearly that the solution to my problem is to send my panster to an evening bath more often...

or to leave flowers in the bedroom instead of the living room... ;)

I have been contemplating how obsessed France is with its media, or more exactly obsessed by the people in it. Beeing a journalist here has a total different meaning to what I imagine it has in other countries. At least from what I have been able to experience in Iceland and observe in England.

A french journalist is someone who is admired, whether he is liked or not. It is a job alot of people aspire to and not because they want to "tell the truth", be useful to society or to others but because they want to become famous. And indeed, it is a good career move, given you know the right people (its all about your address book), have the right name or parents and remember as many intellectual quotes as possible. Then you have a chance. And once you are in - you can be a top notch celebrity!

(Ok, to be fair, there might be a few who are interested in "spreading the word", "educate the masses" or simply have a job where they can travel around the world to meet interesting people. But I think they are very few (most journalists working inside a dark office)  and they also play the game of recognising big names and if they can, they would just love to become their new best friends. Which makes this business one of the most hypocritical worlds you can imagine, along with the world of politicians, and actually, these two often go together.)

How often do you see presenters and journalists being guests on other people's shows? Where they are stroked the right way and their egos blown out of proportion? All the time. It has become perfectly normal to invite the "star of the 20H" (the person presenting the evening news) to talk about his/her life and opinions they might have on almost anything. Like we care. Often these conversations (especially where there is more than one tv personality invited) go into some obscur corners of the tv/media/political/-or entertainement world and things are implied without a general explanaition to the viewer. Debates are often false debates since important information is omitted, like why, who and how. People in the media business (and political sphere) have all the pieces of (informal) information but no one is informing the public. Journalists are not writing for you, they're writing for their friends, since they are the only ones who have the missing piece of the puzzle. Its frustrating. I find French journalism frustrating and often disrespectful.

Wonder why I keep doing what I do... 

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