flames were shooting out

Here's an excerpt from an article in the Duluth News Tribune. I've highlighted my favorite parts.

Ten-year-old Becky Engle was paddling in the water park at the Edgewater Resort and Hotel in Duluth Thursday night when she saw something funny — black smoke pouring from the top of the park’s centerpiece volcano.

Seconds later, Becky was running from the water park along with plenty of other guests because flames were shooting out of the top of the volcano.

“Just like a real one,” said Becky’s friend, Angela Beckman, 11.

Unlike a real volcano, the one at The Edge water park, 2400 London Road, is equipped with lights and speakers. One of those electrical speakers caught fire about 7 p.m., resort General Manager Leanne Joynes said.

“We experienced a small technical difficulty,” Joynes said, though the Edgewater planned to reopen the water park at 8 a.m. today after the place airs out. Viewed through emergency doors that had been propped open, a smoky haze hung over the water park.

No one was hurt as hundreds of guests were evacuated, though many were left standing outside wearing only their swimsuits. Eric Markman, 8, of Sartell, Minn., still wore his swimming goggles as he, his brother Matthew and mother Kathy shivered their way across the parking lot toward the nearby Perkins Family Restaurant. All three were barefoot and wearing wet swim suits, though they were wrapped in blankets handed out by resort staff members.

vampire

A Vampire Has Bitten Most Of My T-shirts

A Vampire has bitten most of my t-shirts.
He takes them out of the washing machine
bites them
and puts them back in before I notice.

My red shirt
has two fang marks
right in the middle.
When I put it on over my head
light shines through the holes.
. .

The Vampire doesn't bite my pants.

the metropolis (continued)

I lovingly refer to Oslo as "the metropolis."

metropolis

I think Marit forced me to watch the 1927 film "Metropolis" once after she rented it from the Duluth Public Library. I know I've seen it and I wouldn't have rented it myself, so it must have been her. She was always picking out movies like that. One day it was "The Name of the Rose" (which I definitely shouldn't have seen as a nine year old) and the next it was "The Mission" or "The Seventh Seal" or something. If it was black and white, weird, or depressing, she forced me to watch it. And all I really wanted to see was "The Black Stallion" or "The Man from Snowy River".

the war school

As a student of "peace and love and some other abstract crap like that" I was totally obliged to visit the War School in Oslo. Oddly enough, I know two gentlemen who work there and who happen to share an office. Andre (or Dr. Dre, as we like to call him) used to live with Hanne and me in Tromsø and is a fellow "peace and crap" student. He's a "fixer" and has the mentality of a New Yorker. The other is Hans Olav, the only non-biological brother I have in this world. He's so into skydiving that he probably won't come to Tromsø this summer despite an open invitiation. The two of them sit in their office all day planning wars.

methodology

There's a conference at the Centre for Peace Studies right now about peace research methodology. What is it? Is it transdisciplinary? Is it qualitative? Quantitative? A mix? The director of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) gave a very good presentation this morning that touched on the basics of peace research methodology and I thought to myself: "This info sure would have been useful a year ago." Ba dam bam ching! I have a plan to make money off of this recently gained methodological info, in fact.

In other news: I'm going to Oslo this weekend for a couple days. "Save the Children" is paying the bill.

slimer

I was just sharing some candies with my friend Stian and he kept making this weird smacking noise with his mouth. Then he explained that eating sugary candies makes his mouth slimy. Then I realized that my mouth gets slimy, too. It's pretty gross, actually. Then we got on the subject of Slimer from Ghost Busters.

googly eyeballs

There's nothing better than wearing googly eyeballs.

three sentence updates

I slept for almost 12 hours last night. It was the first lazy evening I've had since returning from the States. I watched some TV, ate some chocolate pudding, and went to bed early.

Scott and I played at Driv two nights ago. We covered Fiona Apple's Paper Bag - a song that was introduced to me by Molly Yergens. Thanks, Molly.

I ate a big breakfast this morning. Someone told me that you should eat lots in the morning to fuel you for the day, and eat less at night. I thought I'd test out this theory.

I'm going to a cpr/first aid training course tonight. It's free and I've been certified before, so I might as well renew. Then I can save people.

very sexy, okay, okay

through the yard

through the yard of blonde girls

through the river and the sea

gold sharks glittering

a tree of white

breaks the earth

the streets where lola played

it's in your heart

it's in your art, your beauty

even in this world of lies

there's purity

you've got innocence

in your eyes

even in this world of lies

you're still hopeful

very sexy, okay, okay

(Jeff Buckley)

little big sister from the north

My host sis Kari came to visit for the weekend. We went to a concert, attended a birthday bash, saw some seals, stayed at a hotel for free, ate good food (my appetite is back), and spent time with friends. Most excellent!

the long draw

I had blood drawn today, but nothing came out. So I had to clench and release my fist over and over again until they got some to come out. It took five minutes. I'm glad my nurse wasn't creepy and smiling like this one.