Woodpress

On the night of day 5, I went to the Trumpet Karaoke Bar. The bartender was very friendly, and was kind enough to teach me some Norwegian phrases that came in handy. She also looked quite a bit like my sister. She even had some mannerisms that reminded me of my sister. I talked to her quite a bit. She made fun of Norway, and apologized for the pushy prostitutes.

Here’s her picture:

Here’s a picture of my sister:

Those pictures don’t really show the likeness very well, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.

The bartender (like my sister) didn’t like having her picture taken. She made me delete a couple that didn’t turn out. I was accommodating, even though I usually don’t delete photos, as a rule. I mentioned to her that I used to hate having my picture taken until I realized that I keep getting uglier as I get older, and that all my old pictures look great to me. She said she thought that was a pretty good way to look at it.

Some Norwegian words and phrases she taught me:

• SkÃ¥l (Cheers!)
• BÃ¥nnsky (Bottoms up!)
• HallÃ¥ pÃ¥san! (Hello, countryman/old friend!)

She explained that it was very witty to say “hallÃ¥ pÃ¥san”… I got a few laughs with it. I failed to get anyone to finish off a drink with “bÃ¥nnsky” unfortunately.

I don’t remember her name, sadly… but I really enjoyed talking with her.

I thought Utah had strict liquor laws… but apparently Norway (or at least Oslo) has even stricter laws. They were only allowed to serve 21% vodka. I tasted a small amount of the vodka straight, and it was… kinda cute.

I also saw a guy denied alcohol because his ID photo was unclear. Poor guy.

Fortunately, they also had a local beer called Borg that was okay!

We are Borg. You will be slightly inebriated. Resistance is… easy.

While I was at the karaoke bar, I sang four songs… two Doors songs, a Pink Floyd song, and an INXS song. There was a small group of young people who seemed to really like my choice of music. They would get up in front of the stage and dance whenever I sang. That was pretty cool.

I also spent some time talking to a cool guy there who strongly encouraged me to get a Skype account so we could talk. While that sounds fun, I don’t really find myself in a quiet environment very often. I hardly even talk on the phone… so for the time being, I think I’ll remain Skypeless. I’ve kept his contact information though.

That more or less covers the karaoke bar.