It is important to remind yourself of how amazing you really are.
Have a fun and amazing 2015!
Category Personal
2014 in review :-)
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Intervju om verdens mest kjendiskåte religion
Deilig å være i radiostudio igjen. Denne gangen var jeg intervjuobjektet. Programleder var komiker Dag Sørås. Hans program, Sannhetsministeriet, sendes lørdager på NRK P2.
Dag hadde lest Nittenåttifire da den ble sluppet, og ønsket å ta en prat med meg om verdens mest kjendiskåte religion. Vi dekket mange sider ved Scientologi – fra trakasering og om Scientologi virkelig er en religion, til slemmingen Xenu og kjendisen Hank von Helvete. Desverre slapp både Xenu og Hank billig unna da de ble klippet bort, men intervjuet ble likevel en fin gjennomgang av temaet:
What’s the point, if any?
We haven’t had an open discussion yet on this blog as to what the purpose is for life, the universe and everything.
There are lots of answers ranging from “the purpose is unknown” and various specific general or personal purposes to “no purpose”.
I’d like to invite an open discussion about the reason(s) for it all.
So; What’s the point, if any?
Held a Talk. Found an App.
Two weeks ago I held a talk on Scientology in the southernmost city in Norway, Kristiansand. JessicaX, an original Anonymous Norway, took pictures and videos. Then I was told about Magisto – a creative video app. Downloaded… and a few days later… voilá:
Click the image to watch the video
The talk was in Norwegian, so I’ll leave you with this fancy trailer.
And when I thought I couldn’t get closer to Nerdvana
… doors started to open.
I have written about my technical setup before. But now, ladies and gentlemen, it is getting HOT. Like hard core porn hot.
The setup goes like this: Linux (Ubuntu 14.04) as the operating system (easy package management – it does the job well). No kludgey memory-hogging desktop environment, just a damn good Window Manager straight – the i3. Lean, mean, keyboard driven and very efficient. Check out my config here.
The i3 window manager in action
Adding a conky bar with essential info at the top of the screen. And the perfect e-mail setup for good measure.
The e-mail client, mutt
I am a vi-guy to the core, and I prefer to use console tools as much as I can (urxvt is the terminal with zsh as the shell). With key bindings for everything and with minimal use of the mouse, I get the speed and efficiency I want.
I use VIM for almost all my text editing – from writing books and articles (with the added benefit of LaTeX) to writing hyperlists, all my e-mails… and this very blog post. I swear by mutt as the e-mail client. It spawns vim as the editor. Essential vim plugins are netdict, visincr and gundo.
Newsbeuter – the rss reader
I use newsbeuter for newsfeeds, irssi as the Internet Relay Chat client and mcabber for my facebook chat 🙂 Zathura is the pdf reader of choice.
Using irssi to chat
Just the other day, as I was struggling with a bug in the latest release of the trust old vifm console file manager, I came across an alternative – ranger. An ultra-neat file manager capable of all sorts of acrobatics – like displaying images right in the console (via w3m)! Wanna dig in? My config file should get you grooved in.
The amazing ranger – file manager on steroids
Then it’s the browser. I have been very happy with uzbl – until the latest git updates. Stability issues started creeping in and I was forced to look for alternatives. I have tried plenty – and I gave luakit another go. The config files are written directly in the programming language of lua. A bit of steep curve for simple configuration tasks but as you get used to lua, it offers amazing extensibility to the browser. As I started to fell in love with luakit, another vi-like browser popped up on the radar – dwb. How could I have missed this gem in all my trails and tribulations trying to find the perfect keyboard driven browser? OMG what a browser! Don’t leave home without it. With such an easy configuration, you’ll be up and running and turning into a fan in no time.
Dwb – über-cool browser
I have spent 14 years choosing my tools, fine tuning their operations and polishing every detail. I owe much work efficiency to this passion.
When I thought I couldn’t get closer to Nerdvana, I stumbled right into its core. Sadly, I now have few ideas left of how to improve my tools set 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, waffles and growing up
“Dad, can I get 298 kroner to buy the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy?”
“No, you can’t. Maybe you have another solution?”
“Hmmm… OK”
Without hesitation, Niklas turned around went over to his grandmother and struck a deal. My mother got busy making waffles and lemonade, and together they carried a plastic table down the stairs and put it up right at the intersection off the property. While she hid behind a tree, the 3½ year old boy wasted no time. He stopped every car and offered waffles with jam and freshly made lemonade. In just a short time he was sold out and counted 400 NOK in earnings. He went over to his grandmother and paid her a 100 for the job, ran up the stairs and asked me, “Dad, can you drive to the store for 2 kroner?” “I sure will” Niklas got his dream toy and a great experience along the way.
This week, we’re in New York together, and after the third day we decided to go to see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The story unfolds in New York and we could see many places we had just visited. And Niklas got to reflect on his first day as a business man almost 12 years ago.
Invitation to critique my OT VIII success story
Just found the success story I wrote when I completed OT VIII in June 2006. Since then I have evolved and my viewpoints have changed considerably. It is interesting to look back at what I wrote at the time. I would like to invite the readers of this blog to comment on my views at the time. I will answer any questions you have. Let’s roll 🙂
I never imagined that there could be so much gain available in such a short amount of time. There are no words to describe the massive amount of gain on this level.
My viewpoint is dramatically different. Everything has shifted. People around me are brighter, the sky is clearer and the birds sing more in harmony.
Barriers are removed from me being Tone 40. My creative thrust and ability has increased immensely.
I am stripped of must-haves. I don’t need to be in action. I don’t need to be productive. This makes me free to be more in action and more productive. I do not need to perceive, neither do I need to know. I can simply and freely perceive and know.
I have never experienced such a boost on the tone scale, in awareness and in productivity.
I love life. My love for others is profound. My respect and admiration for other people is deep and sincere.
Let me share a secret with you: If you are not OT VIII; If you had just one minute of my existence, just one minute, you would spend every hour awake to get yourself to OT VIII.
To the crew of the Freewinds: You are an amazing team, spearheading existence itself by making sure the first OT level is available to all. The eligibility was the most thorough I have seen. Since withholds makes a being not have, it also makes him not have gains. The OT VIII eligibility is indeed needed to make it possible for me to have such massive gain.
To RTC: You set the standard for what a standard should be. By meticulously ensuring the tech is standard and applied to the letter, you safeguard the future for all.
To LRH: There are no words invented to describe the respect and admiration I have for you. This I will make up for in action. I will not let you down.
Update: See my current views on this success story.
Grasp the moment with love
Touching your heart, your soul, your life
His inquiring eyes exploring yours
Taking hold of your breath, your self
The gentle feeling of a teardrop, but of course
He is new to this world, to yours
Which will never be the same again
Your futures will forever run a different course
When you end yours and his goes on – this will be then
Sad in a way as the moment evaporates
But most precious as you fully grasp
The richness of emotions, value, of what it creates
The change, the love, flowing past
My life in the moment
Trying my best, and increasingly better, to live in the here and now with no shame, blame or regret. Working hard to do only fun things and learning to like and then to love those things I have a hard time enjoying. Hunting and shooting down my preconceived ideas and lazy classifications – especially regarding others. Eradicating expectations and planning less every day. Letting go of the past and leaving tomorrow to come, but doing what I can to improve now and what comes. But above all enjoying the moment. Chillaxing.
Geir Isene - uncut 