Today was a 'get shit done' day

I FINALLY went to Skatt øst( which literally translates to Tax East) today and applied for a Norwegian ID number. Should have done this back in September but I've been busy/lazy. So now it'll take 4-6 weeks (aka 8 weeks) for this to process. After which I'll finally be able to open a bank account here and not have to pay my rent in cash and worry about pin pads not taking foreign cards (rare but it happens). Another awesome thing is their Visas are both debit/credit cards, and are considered official ID because they put your picture on the back. I'll finally not have to carry my passport to the bar- something that's not even a Norway thing since I don't have any other ID in Canada either.
The tax office is in Grønland so I decided to drop by the big fruit market there where you can by fruit that is almost guaranteed to be fresher (and cheaper) than anything in Norwegian shops. So I bought apples, pears, plums, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, and some cheap spaghetti.
I had heard the place next door was a bit of a mishmash of random cheaper stuff so I went in there too, and boy it was awesome. A really weird mix of stuff, kinda reminded me of a dollar store but had a selection of nicer pricier stuff too. The general disarray of the store was off-putting since they had shelves lying everywhere and a couple aisles partially blocked with crap but I'm going to assume they're just reorganizing. I bought some school supplies and a couple kitchen things and generally really happy I went there.
Went home after that to drop everything off. Made a frozen pizza for dinner and ate it while watching the new episode of Castle. I truly love Nathan Fillion. After that was done I headed back out to campus and spent an hour in the student library reading about Norwegian stave churches because I'm going to have to write an essay about them soon.
I had considered going back downtown to Oslo City and buying a kettle (I really want my oatmeal and tea) but I didn't want to carry around my laptop. So I dropped crap off and went grocery shopping and did something I had been meaning to do for a while. Recycle my coke bottles.
I drink quite a lot of coke, which is a mistake since it's bad for you and costs SO much here. A six pack of .5L bottles is usually my most expensive purchase. At home we just throw all our bottles into the recycling bin and they get picked up but here you can bring them back to the store and get money for them by feeding them through a cool little machine. I haven't done this since I moved here so I had two bags full. Ended up getting 53kr back. That's almost $10.
Part of the reason I had avoided taking them back was because of the garbage pickers and I didn't want people to think I was one of them. (yeah yeah occasionally I do care what people think of me, now shut up). These are people who wander around Oslo looking through all the garbage bins for empty bottles and cans they can return for money. I know they must be pretty desperate to 1. go through trash and 2. because they can't find many more bottles then what I turned in, meaning they work for less than $10 a day. But I don't really feel sorry for them honestly. Oslo gets a flood of beggars in the summer -they disappear once it's too cold so they obviously have somewhere to go. Real homeless people- I have great sympathy for; migrant beggars- not so much.
Anyway, back to the getting shit done thing- I then cleaned my room. *gasp!* I know! It's a shocker. I swept my floor and wiped down all the counters and organized stuff. Still need to do laundry but I've got another week or two before I run out of clothes.
This post may seem a little stupid to some people. 'Oh wow, you went to an office, went shopping, and then cleaned your room? That's a normal day'. Well yeah, but I'm a little weird. I like going out maybe once a day. I don't like making a bunch of little trips everywhere. I like going, doing what I need to do, and then coming home. Once I'm settled for the day, I'm rooted. If I do something in the evening I like having a plan for it earlier in the day, BUT no earlier than the day before because I don't like being tied down to a social commitment. I wasn't always like this, I remember the days when I was called to party at 1:40 and running to the bar and ordering before last call at 1:50. Now I'd probably say 'wtf is wrong with you, I'm in my pjs and settled for the evening?' Is this maturity? or just being lame? Whatever, it makes me happy.

Anyways, bunch of stuff that I still need to do. Buy a kettle, salt shaker, a fucking pillow (still using the inflatable neck rest). And I'm sure there's a lot more. And that's just in life, TONS more stuff for school.

-Ash the Viking.