Thorwegian @thor@berserker.town

for people who don't know me yet, here's the shortest summary possible:

i began life as a socially inept computer geek from North Norway, but then i flipped 180 degrees and i had to face the music, and i've been growing stronger ever since.

i thought i was crazy, but i'd just discovered how to hack life. i learned what's called social skills or emotional intelligence, and a little bit about fitness, and i feel happier now.

ask me to explain assembly code or LISP or the OSI stack and i can do that.

but i now also understand how the rest of the world operates. i even understand my cat better. it's been a wild ride.

and i work a lot more efficiently now.

#introductions

i like how we have a caste system in Norway but no one acknowledges that.

some of the romani want to learn Norwegian from me.

it would be very fun if i taught them the most high-status version of the language.

funny how there's no distinction between reporting locally on your instance and reporting remotely - there are cases where the local rules may be more liberal than the remote ones

loco, circa, specio, voco, creo

i'm still trying to understand why i was refused service at a bar today. that never happened to me before. a person who makes his living selling beer to people refused to serve me. i was perfectly sober. i was wearing nice clothes.

i suspect he took issue with my language, because i simply stated that i wanted a beer.

you're not supposed to do that. you're supposed to ask if you may have a beer. i'm usually in the habit of doing that, but at that moment, it didn't seem right to me. and i guess he decided, well, then it doesn't seem right to me to serve you beer.

i've noticed that people seem to have higher expectations of me now than before. i think it's because my emotional intelligence is showing, so they expect me to play by the rules.

but i have no attachment to them, seeing as i was never rewarded for following them before.

tomorrow, i think i will wear my hat. it seems right to do so at the moment.

today is 17 May. it's the national holiday of Norway, in which the country itself is celebrated.

i didn't pay much attention to the calendar or the clock. i keep forgetting which day it is and which hour it is. those things never felt very real to me.

i had no plans in going out except maybe get a hot dog and a sundae, because that's what you do on that day.

it was hard to find hot dogs and sundaes. i found plenty of people trying to sell sugar though, but i was determined to find a hot dog.

eventually, i came across a place that sold spring rolls, which are basically Asian hot dogs. it didn't say that though. it said it was collecting donations for freedom and democracy in Myanmar. that sounded good to me and i wanted spring rolls so i bought three.

it was just me and a few people there. there were long lines of people outside all the normal shops, but hardly anyone was buying from the immigrant street vendors. you're not supposed to eat "foreign" food on that day, after all.

i was doing my usual thing of concentrating on my surroundings and interacting with them without much fear, in other words.

and that's how i came across a romani who wanted to sell me a book. and then we talked. and we began to walk. and things began happening. closed doors became open. open doors became closed. some of my privileges were denied me because i was seen with the wrong people, but others were offered to me because i was seen with the right people.

it also became apparent to me that certain businesses are friendlier to the romani than others. you would be unable to detect this without spending many hours with romani. and normal people don't do that.

but the romani called me normal. and they said i was very kind.

did i go home with less money in my pocket? definitely. could this be taken as naive? yes. but i was fully aware of what i was doing. and the experience was enjoyable.

they asked me to come back tomorrow. i told them i will have no money then. they said this was okay. they also said that if i am ever hungry, they will help me with food.

here's a lesson in romani logic:

"they don't want to talk to us. they don't want to give us food or shelter. they ignore us. they mistreat us. they always did. why should we treat them with any respect? they're not decent people."

"all they care about is money. they won't do anything for us unless they get money for it. they're not decent people, and they're stupid, so they deserve that we take their money."

here's a lesson in upper class logic:

"they don't want to talk to us. they don't want to give us food or shelter. they ignore us. they mistreat us. they always did. why should we treat them with any respect? they're not decent people."

"all they care about is money. they won't do anything for us unless they get money for it. they're not decent people, and they're stupid, so they deserve that we take their money."

here's a lesson in working class logic:

"they don't want to talk to us. they don't want to give us food or shelter. they ignore us. they mistreat us. they always did. why should we treat them with any respect? they're not decent people."

"all they care about is money. they won't do anything for us unless they get money for it. they're not decent people, and they're stupid, so they deserve that we take their money."

these people think like the Sámi once did, before the Sámi became civil.

it's funny how it works. i have nomads on my mother's side of the family, and i go to the big city far away, and now i am talking to nomads again.

just read the book i bought. it's fairytales. they read like Norwegian fairytales except these are the ones the gypsies tell to their kids. but fairytales are so similar around the world there's even a code system for categorising them.

i want to help somebody with (proof of) residence, but i'm not sure what is the safest approach.

here's some Norwegian legalese for you

"regningssvarende" - this literally means something like "answering to calculation" or "equivalent to reckoning" but the dictionary says it means something that pays off or offers reward.

"leietaker" is the Norwegian word for "tenant" - but the word itself says "leie-taker" - someone who *takes* rent. how odd, lol

i like how my rent contract says i am not allowed to "store items" on my balcony.

i have a table and some chairs there, so i'm technically in violation of the contract.

i think what i am doing right now is highly controversial. i'm talking to the "sub-humans" and this is not respectable.

as far as i'm concerned, Norwegians are complete assholes to people who can't provide papers. they think bits of paper with text on them are real. how stupid are they?

the people i talked today don't know how to function within the system, and they're not considered welcome here. they're also considered freeloaders who don't want to work. and many are racist against them. the system wants them to be productive and do work, but the system offers no means for them to do this.

"you want help? i will need to see proof of residence. ah, you want a job? you will need a bank account. for that, i will need to see proof of residence. ah, but to get a residence, you will have to work first."

i was told to go to hell by a bartender today because i wanted to have a beer with the poor. "behave yourself."

people will give you shit for talking to the poor. they'll even refuse to sell you things.