Vall vallere vallaveien

Hvordan får en gammel dame sympati for at hun har fått sparken fra jobben sin fordi hun mobbet en av medarbeiderene så mye at medarbeideren sa opp stillingen sin i VG? Jo, hun skriver en "Dagbok" der hun langer ut mot alt og alle som har kommet i hennes vei i løpet av "Prosessen" som hun velger å kalle boken sin.

Det er faktisk ganske vanskelig å skjønne hva hun håper å oppnå med denne boken. Hvis det er å formidle hennes side av historien så har hun mislyktes totalt. Hennes side av historien var forsåvidt uspiselig nok som den var, men hun har gjort det enda verre når hun nå utbasunerer at statsministeren er veik, sint, svak osv.

Hva om hensikten er å rehabilitere seg i rampelyset? Kanskje det er like greit at den hypotesen faller på sin egen urimelighet. Hun kunne ikke vært mindre rehabilitert hvis hun hadde prøvd. Faktisk så er det vel kanskje slik at hun ikke ønsker å rehabilitere seg, heller bare å ta hevn. Men er det egentlig hevn om man fremstår verre etterpå enn det man gjorde før?

Ikke misforstå. Jeg har ingenting til overs for Ingunn Yssen heller. Jeg syns faktisk at ei dame som hyler "mobbing" når hennes nærmeste leder irettesetter henne ikke burde hatt en jobb høyt oppe i en organisasjon. Det er vel en kjensgjerning at ledere ikke alltid fungerer sosialt. Dette er Valla et godt eksempel på i denne saken.

Og der er hovedproblemet: Hun skjønner enda ikke debatten ikke står om hva hun gjorde. Den står om måten hun gjorde det på. Og der gjorde hun feil. For det er ikke det som faktisk skjedde som er interessant. Det er det VI tror skjedde som er interessant.

Reflexology

What the hell is going on?

I went to a zone therapist (reflexologist) last week because my neck has been sore. He massaged my foot, it hurt like hell, and my neck got better. In addition he hit a sore spot on my shin, and worked hard on it with electro-acupuncture.

That was all bad enough, but the real weird thing was that later in the day I had the most incredible stomach cramps and diahorrea. Honestly, I hadn't eaten a whole lot that day, and what I had eaten was bread and butter.

I phoned the reflexologist the next day and he laughed. "Yep, the point on your shin was your stomach, I was expecting your call".

2 interesting things can be deduced from this.

1) There's something seriously wrong with my stomach. How else can you explain that there was such a massive reaction?

2) What the hell?! A point on my lower shin is massaged and shocked and I get diahorrea? There are obviously more things around than I understand. I wonder what will happen when he finds the spot that connects to my liver. After 2 bottles of wine on Saturday night, that should be an interesting experience....

Magic

It’s always difficult to give a review of a record that I know I’ll be listening to a lot over the coming years after only about 10 runs through the cd player. Tunnel of Love didn’t grip me at all when I first heard it (what did I know, I was 12 when it came out, my ears not trained to the subtleties of a Serious Springsteen Record.) Human Touch on the other hand, gripped me more than Lucky Town and The Ghost of Tom Joad.

If these omens are anything to go by, the current offering has a bad fate in store. I love the album immediately. The catchy “Livin’ in the future” grabs me by the smiling muscles as I drive to work in the morning, the fantastic intro to “Gypsy Rider” nails me every time I hear it. “Radio Nowhere” currently tops my most played list on my iPod, at 59 plays in the last 14 days.

The biggest surprise as a dedicated fan for the past 20 years is that all of a sudden, for the first time since I was 12, it’s cool to be a Bruce fan. Friends who know that I’m a fan come over to me at the water cooler and say “I heard the latest single on the radio…and you know what? (look of surprise) IT ROCKS!” People look enviously at my tickets to the concert in Oslo that are on my desk at work.

Writing this, I’m struck by how rarely I actually listen to a whole Bruce album (Tunnel of love and The E street Shuffle are honourable exceptions), and how much of my understanding of the songs relies on the live format. I often find myself a favourite way to hear the new material when I’ve heard the live songs. I look forward to hearing “Long walk home” live to hear the solo that Little Steven plays, and to sing along to “Girls in their summer clothes”.

I suspect that the “bad” omen of me liking the album is wrong, to be honest. What has happened here happened to me during the Rising. The songs I loved on the first few listens are the songs that I’m a bit sick of now.(World’s apart, Let's be friends) The songs that didn’t immediately grip me are the ones that I listen to most often now. (The fuse, paradise). I suspect that with a good few (100+) listens, the real character of Magic will emerge and I reserve the right to give a revised judgement then.

For now the record gets a solid 4 out of 6.

Most likely song to grip me in 10 years time: Devil's Arcade

Song I love most, but least likely to have staying power: Radio Nowhere

Revised update 8th of October: I just had a long drive with Magic on the stereo at the weekend, and if you haven't taken a drive like that, with no one else in the car and the sun shining, you need to. It's got to be one of the all time best DRIVING records ever made. Even the slightly weak "Your own worst enemy" came alive as I was speeding along. So, get out there past the edge of town, and motor.

Upgraded to 5 out of 6