Glorious food

Oh, I just had the most wonderful time with my friends Margréti and Guðbjörtu yesterday. We haven't seen each other for quite a while, and soon, all three of us, are going to be in three seperate countries. They are going to be lucky enough to just be barely four hours apart, one in Sweden and the other in Norway, but I will be an ocean away again in Scotland.
We went out to a new restaurant here in Reykjavik, called Indian Mango, it is amazing. Wonderful indian food, we had fish and chicken and bread and rice and wine and beer and dessert and a lot of water as well. We stayed there nearly three hours and didn't feel rushed at all, just brilliant in all ways possible. We went in with stomachs rumbling and came out near to bursting, but the night wasn't over yet. We next headed to the best ice cream shop in Iceland Álfheimabúðina, where we had icecream ala Bragðaref with assortments of icelandic candy added to it. Then we sat in the car talking and laughing and reminiscing of old days and speculating about the future. All it all it was the best time in a long time we have had together.

Star Trek rediscovered

I started watchin Star Trek Deep Space 9 again, I am now on season two. It is amazing how I can watch these episodes again and again. I love the philosophy and the characters and the idea of Star Trek, and I just adore the Ferengi Quark, his philosophy is so bizarre but brilliant. I found this on the web, I was not nerdy enough to jot it down myself. THE RULES OF ACQUISITION

1. Once you have their money ... never give it back.
3. Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to.
6. Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.
7. Keep your ears open.
8. Small print leads to large risk.
9. Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
10. Greed is eternal.
13. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
16. A deal is a deal ... until a better one comes along.
17. A contract is a contract is a contract (but only between Ferengi).
18. A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.
19. Satisfaction is not guaranteed.
21. Never place friendship above profit.
22. A wise man can hear profit in the wind.
27. There's nothing more dangerous than an honest businessman.
31. Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother ... insult something he cares about instead.
33. It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
34. Peace is good for business.
35. War is good for business.
40. She can touch your lobes but never your latinum.
41. Profit is its own reward.
44. Never confuse wisdom with luck.
47. Don't trust a man wearing a better suit than your own.
48. The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.
52. Never ask when you can take.
57. Good customers are as rare as latinum -- treasure them.
58. There is no substitute for success.
59. Free advice is seldom cheap.
60. Keep your lies consistent.
62. The riskier the road, the greater the profit.
65. Win or lose, there's always Hyperian beetle snuff.
75. Home is where the heart is ... but the stars are made of latinum.
76. Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
79. Beware of the Vulcan greed for knowledge.
82. The flimsier the product, the higher the price.
85. Never let the competition know what you're thinking.
89. Ask not what your profits can do for you, but what you can do for your profits.
94. Females and finances don't mix.
97. Enough ... is never enough.
99. Trust is the biggest liability of all.
102. Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever.
104. Faith moves mountains ... of inventory.
106. There is no honour in poverty.
109. Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.
111. Treat people in your debt like family ... exploit them.
112. Never have sex with the boss's sister.
113. Always have sex with the boss.
117. You can't free a fish from water.
121. Everything is for sale, even friendship.
123. Even a blind man can recognize the glow of latinum.
139.Wives serve, brothers inherit.
141. Only fools pay retail.
144. There's nothing wrong with charity ... as long as it winds up in your pocket.
162. Even in the worst of times someone turns a profit.
177. Know your enemies ... but do business with them always.
181. Not even dishonesty can tarnish the shine of profit.
189. Let others keep their reputation. You keep their money.
192. Never cheat a Klingon ... unless you're sure you can get away with it.
194. It's always good business to know about new customers before they walk in the door.
202. The justification for profit is profit.
203. New customers are like razortoothed grubworms. They can be succulent, but sometimes they can bite back.
211. Employees are rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them.
214. Never begin a negotiation on an empty stomach.
218. Always know what you're buying.
223. Beware the man who doesn't make time for oo-mox.
229. Latinum lasts longer than lust.
236. You can't buy fate.
239. Never be afraid to mislabel a product.
242. More is good ... all is better.
255. A wife is a luxury ... a smart accountant is a necessity.
261. A wealthy man can afford anything except a conscience.
263. Never allow doubt to tarnish your love of latinum.
266. When in doubt, lie.
284. Deep down everyone's a Ferengi.
285. No good deed ever goes unpunished.
286. [Quark's rule] When Morn leaves, it's all over.

The Big Day

We took it easy in the morning, woke up slowly and just enjoyed relaxing a bit. Took a shower and around 11am started dressing and putting make up on. The Wedding started at 2pm so we went to Chows on Byres Road first for lunch and then headed to the church. The weather was really nice, although it was a bit windy, which is quite unusual in Glasgow, but as long as it isn't raining everyone is happy. We arrived at the church, a beautiful church, and stood around not knowing what to do with ourselves, I didn't know anyone. I had seen his parents once three years ago, and they were dressed decidedly different then than now. So it wasn't until Lewis showed up that I actually felt relieved, we said our hellos and I introduced him to Hrafnhildur. It was obvious that he had been practising with her name and it was quite impressive to hear him say it, he got it in the first attempt. The ceremony was nice, although way different from back home. The priest didn't allow any pictures to be taken during the ceremony, which was not very nice, because, even though the guests didn't take photos he might have allowed the hired photographer to snap some pictures but NO. We felt the priest was a bit creepy. The hymns sung and the passages read were really weird and I am sure there were a few things gone awry in translation because some of the verses really made no sense. Also it was all a bit chauvinistic, where she should obey and sit in his shadow and all that kind of stuff, and the priest actually stated that this was the right kind of wedding ... a heterosexual union. All very really religious stuff and all, something that we as Icelanders (unless we belong to the Krossinn) kind of shy away from. Not very up our alley so to speak. But it was nice and probably something that they are used to. I managed to take a few pictures of the bride and groom .. or Mr. and Mrs. Meek outside the church in the wedding car (Brúðarbíl), really cool, car and the Bridesmaid and Best man also had their car. Then Hrabba and I grabbed the first taxi we could hail and went home to collect the presents and Hrabbas camera before going to the reception and dinner. The reception was held in the Hunter Halls at Glasgow University, which for more than just strange for some of us because we were used to sitting there during our exams and this was something new. We sat at the Crocus table, every table was named after some flowers. We sat eight at our table, Hrabba and me, and Jo (a girl) from Australia, Alaine (pronounced Alan), ? (can not for the life of me remember his name), Naomi (called Nimh), Monzie Olaf Ragnar (half Irish, other half both Norwegian and Swedish) and then there was Fraser who sat on my right at the table. The first course was a starter course of Salmon paste and salad, with oat bisquit, bread and butter. The main course was chicken wrapped in bacon and cheese filling wiht mustard sauce, also potatoes and vegetables. The dessert was just heaven, it was a chocolate dessert in a wee cup, not quite a mousee because it was much more smoother than that and with bit of whipped cream as well. Lovely. You would think that this was enough, but no, there was also coffee, tea and after dinner mints. After that the fun started. It was a bit daunting to watch, but after the first two dances, I hurried out onto the dancefloor, because I wanted to try it, and Alaine was nice enough to draft Ewan into service as my dancing partner. I got to dance the Highland Fling dance, called "The Gay Garden" (translated as Glaði Garðurinn and not the other way). It was incredibly fun, but darn it, I was not exhausted after it, I was dead. I felt a few times like my legs would cave from under me, this dance lasted like five or six minutes, but it felt like it was never ending. I really wanted to dance more, but decided not to because I felt me knee go wonky, also a few minutes after my dance I started to get bruises on my knee, not too good. Hrabba got to try as well, her partner was Fraser and she got to dance the "Spin the Barrell" which was one of the first dances I got to try a few years ago. It was fun watching her being twirled away like I had been then. Then there was a small break where they served the wedding cake and sandwiches. The bar had also opened, so people could by cokes, wines and spirits, not to mention water. This is probably the only wedding I have ever been to where water was the most popular beverage. 2 litre bottles were just flying off the shelfs by the dozens. Then we said goodbye to the newly weds and then started dancing again, or watching the dancing at least. The ceilidh lasted until 11:30pm and then we said goodbye to both sets of parents and headed home to pack for our journey back in the morning.

Bollywood Scotland

The fourth and last day of shopping started with us in Marks & Spencer, sort of where we left of from yesterday. Hit a few of the nearby stores as well and then had lunch at the Pizza Hut, where we got a starter course, main course and dessert with pepsi and free refills for under ten pounds. When we had finished all our shopping in the city center we hit the Little India part of Glasgow. Always such fun to go there and browse through exotic material and clothes. Hrafnhildur even did some bargain shopping, she now has material for two Salwar Kamees, one royal blue and the other light peach with white as well. Since we finished shopping we came home around five-ish and while Hrafnhildur was browsing on the internet I fell asleep. Woke up around seven and she was nowhere to be seen. She had snuck off to her room for a wee nap as well. We then got dressed and put on our pretty faces and went out to eat at a very nice and cozy restaurant called Ashoka on Asthon Lane. Brilliant food and brilliant service. Hrabba said she was waiting for the moment when everyone would start singing and dancing on the tables and chaning clothes a la Bollywood films, it was that nice. A few days ago I saw in a bookstore that they had The Ashoka Cookbook, and really wanted to buy it but decided not to. Well, they were selling a copy at the restaurant so we decided to buy a copy each. Now I decided to be a pushy tourist and asked the waiter (who was just funny and very nice, and misunderstood me whe I was telling him that I wanted to buy the cookbook and he brought me a toothpick instead), but yeah, I asked the waiter to sign my book and he did, the manager signed Hrafnhildur's copy. And possibly because we left a very generous tip we got the cooks autograph as well and his picture is on the back of the book. So this was just brilliant dinner for us. When we left the restaurant it was starting to rain so we basically ran to the next bar, not much else to run to there, it was kind of crowded, possibly because they had live music and it was a tiny bar (didn't know they had tiny bars in Scotland), so we went to The Loft, huges place and hardly anyone in there but a nice respite from the rain and we had one drink before we went home after a very satisfying day.
At home we wrapped the wedding presents into beautiful wrapping paper and than I got gray hairs trying to figure out something nice to write in the cards. No wonder they invented Hallmark.
But tomorrow is the big day and I have go my camera ready, my clothes all picked out and the are presents are waiting for delivery. By Gods might and will it is gonna be a beautiful day.

Fortune for 30p

Day three of shopping went better than expected. We started by walking to the Subway, because even though it looked like it might rain it was nice enough that we wanted to be out in the nice warm weather. We stared in Buchanan Galleries, where we had light lunch and then we hit the shops. The shopping bags soon started to pile and we went through all the shops in the Buchanan Galleries and then down Buchanan Street all the way to Marks & Spencers on Argyl Street. At that point the shops were starting to close so we decided enough was enought, since continuing would mean breaking and entering, not to mention looting. Because we were at the complete opposite end of town where we wanted to go for dinner we took a taxi there. The destination was All You Can Eat China Buffet, where we spent a good while of the evening and took it slowly. On the way out, we saw a jar full of Fortune cookies for 30p so we had to have one each. But we didn't open them yet, because we had an appointment with Cineworld to keep. We bought tickest and got really good seats where we fit with all our shopping bags and sat and waited. It was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest that we were coming to see and boy it is great. I laughed myself silly, probably someone noticed as well. Oooh, and Árdís! There is a new Orange Wednesday's add with Steven Segal, brilliant, they also had the classic of "Bob, c'est ton oncle". From there the evening and the film just got better and better. Don't regrett these three hours of my life.
When we came home we opened our Fortune cookies, mine read "You will soon be surrounded by good friends and laughter", I liked that one, Hrabbas read "Take advantage of an upcoming opportunity" so it will be interesting to see what is in store for her. So, can you trust a Fortune bought for only 30p, but whatever the outcome it was worth it and also just for fun.
Well, am off to bed now, have to get up early tomorrow again for the last day of shopping.

Day Two: Edinburgh Adventure

We took a taxi to Queen Street Station just before 11am today and bought tickets to Edinburgh. Usually the train ride takes about 50 mins, so we were quite optimistic of having a good time of shopping, but no. Due to engineering work at the last stop before Edinburgh Waverly Station we had to take the scenic route into Edinburgh and entered it "from behind". This took us 2 hours so we were quite late at arriving in Edinburgh so we just threw ourselves into shopping like crazy people, although I didn't manage to spend very much. I did managed to buy myself a feather-hatlike-comb-y-thingy that I can possibly wear at the wedding on Tuesday, but I think I will need some imagination to pin it to my head and expecting it to stick. So...we'll see. We stopped at Hard Rock Café for lunch and then continued shopping. I was getting quite tired after being awake for 20 hours the day before and waking up early today. Also shopping, takes a bit of steam out of you, so when we stopped at La Senza I left my friend browsing and took a pose by one of the shelf-rack thingies they have and took a nap. SURVIVAL TIP: When waiting for someone in an underwear department a push-up bra is a very good pillow to use for a nap. Comfy, but soft and cushiony. I was almost tempted to buy it as a travel cushion.
We tracked on and on and on, we probably walked most of Princes Street in Edinburgh and let me tell you, it is not the shortest street in the world. When we reached the end we decided to go to the next street and walk by the pubs and on towards a Moroccan restaurant that had Belly Dancers perform on Saturdays. The pubs we walked by were just brilliantly well named, quite appropriate for Scottish bar-humour. The first one was named Bad Ass, which was next to Dirty Dick's and further up the road was Filthy Mc Nasty's, and if you don't believe me, I took pictures to prove it.
We finally found the Morrocan restaurant and we were the first in off the evening. We ordered delicious food, I took a dish of chicken with dried apricots and almonds with coriander and cinnamon, while Hrafnhildur had Chicken something with a kind of salsa sause and salad and rice. Very nice, when we had almost finished our meal more people had started to arrive, and it was then that the belly dancer started to dance, so we decided to have desserts as well just to have more time to watch. Hrafnhildur also ordered some Moroccan Mint Tea ... it tasted and smelled just like Wrigleys gum, I found it hilarious, but just too confusing to drink.
We ended the night by taking the train home to Glasgow just before ten o'clock and are now getting ready to go to bed. We will continue tomorrow shopping and I hope I will be able to buy something more tomorrow. I would feel a bit stupid for taking a huge luggage bag with me and actually not buy anything to fill it with. That is something I am not known for.

Update on Glasgow Trip

Last night when I had said goodnight to Hrafnhildur I went to see Dinesh. He is still here, not moved out yet. I was very happy to see him again, and we talked for a long while about our families and what was happening in Sri Lanka. After a long while of chatting I finally said goodnight to him and went to my room and to my very very nice bed, where I slept like a log until 9 am (8am Icleandic time) and shortly thereafter I realized my mistake. Well, Hrabba and I had sort of decided to wake up at 9am to take the 10 am train to Edinburgh, everything fine with that except, I think I forgot to ask her to change her clock before she went to bed or at all throughout the day. So, right now I still think she is asleep. But that means we will be going to Edinburgh an hour later than we had originally intended but that is no biggie, just a funny screwup. The sun has started smiling through the clouds, it is supposed to be a lot more cloudy in Glasgow than Edinburgh today, so we are hoping it will be nice there. Also I need a jacket, so I am hoping it won't be to cold or rainy.

Dead on our feet

We have been awake now for roughly 17 hours and quite exhausted. As soon as we landed in Glasgow we went straight to my place. Ooh, that has such a nice ring to it. We took a little breather there, deciding what to do before we headed into the city center via the subway. We started with getting something to eat, so that we wouldn't drop dead from lack of substance. Then we hit the stores, did major shoppings at Boots, so I think they will soon give us the key to the city. Then we swept through St. Enoch Centre with our credit cards and finally ended at TGI Fridays around six o'clock for early-ish dinner. Managed to crawl into a cab afterwards and finally collapsed in front of the television watching the newest addition to my DVD collection.
Tomorrow we aim to take Edinburgh ... and of course after that, the rest of the world. News on that later.

PS. Damn am I glad that Magni didn't get kicked out of Rockstar: Supernova first. Hope he does well.

Going to a Wedding

I must say, that by getting more and more blog sites I seem to have much less to say. But hey, it's fun. In barely five hours I have to wake up to go to the airport. Why ... because I am going home to Glasgow for a few days. My friend Hrafnhildur is coming with me to keep me company. We leave tomorrow and come back home to Iceland on Wednesday and the wedding is on Tuesday so it's gonna be a busy schedule for us. We are even going to try to go to Edinburgh on Saturday and just mainly to have lots of fun.
I am going to try to blog during our trip but we'll see if that is actually a viable option or not.

Other news;
I stayed up last night to watch Rockstar:Supernova just for the fun of it and also to be able to keep up with conversations today at work. I also felt I should vote a couple of times, just for the sake of calling myself an Icelander. Personally, I didn't like the song Magni sang, mostly because it has such a limited vocal range in it and I know Magni can do a lot more, but still he did manage to get the crowd, but in no way like the way I have seen him do it. I just truly hope that he won't be eliminated at the first round, because this is a great opportunity for a guy from Iceland. Good luck, Magni.