the global reconnaissance organization: time is wasting

centuries ago bergen had been a leprosy hotspot and st. jorgen's hospital was the biggest treatment facility for the disease in norway. written accounts date the first hospital building back to 1411. over the centuries: fire, demolition, inferno and devastation. i don't think i've been to a european city that has not burned down, in part or in whole. [this makes me wonder how giant stone cathedrals burn down. how does stone burn? comments requested.]

the present st. jorgen's building dates to the eighteenth century and now houses the leprosy museum. really not much there; several informational displays in norwegian in the old patient rooms. english translations were provided on several laminated handouts. some interesting pictures, lancing equipment, one decaying foot, still decaying. i occasionally take notes at museums if i find the information interesting; research later; post some statistics on this site. as i was taking notes from the translation, the young museum attendant walked over and timidly suggested that if i was interested much of the information in the museum exhibits was also contained in a book about the history of st. jorgen's as a leprosy treatment facility; the book was for sale for forty kroner. i thanked her and scanned the book. there they were... the exhibit translations, word for word. it wasn't clear which had come first; the museum exhibits or the book. also not clear was the museum attendant's motivation; was she genuinely trying to help me or did the museum not want any of the patrons to record any of the information? i'd already paid thirty kroner to visit the museum; now i felt like it was inappropriate to take notes of the exhibits. blah. not sure of the protocol here... is it inappropriate to take notes at museums? is the material copyrighted? does norway have copyright laws?

i'll include only one bit of information here. one of the exhibitions contained a quote from an uncompleted letter by a former leprosy patient at st. jorgen's. in severe cases of the disease, the eyes of the sufferer fill with fluid and often swell shut. 'if the lord but was allowed to open up our eyes, we would surely have reason to complain of the state of our hearts. we would see how satan and our sins have mauled us [...]'. quite sad to think these poor people were often isolated and mistreated.

i returned to the hostel and met a new roommate, magnus from norway, who was in town as part of a job and had decided to stay an extra night to see black sabbath[and in the following instant infinitely short, the sky cracked open high above and all of the air of the world was withdrawn violently into that scar, wretching, gasping. and with it all sound was carried away, and i looked at magnus and saw his mouth moving slowly, but i heard no sound, the hole in the sky had devoured his voice. only silence remained. what did he just say?]

me: did you say... black sabbath?'

magnus: 'yes, they're playing here in bergen tomorrow.'

me: 'tomorrow??? at what time?'

magnus: 'i think around 7:30pm.'

not a month or a week or a day before as so often has happened before; no, the godfathers of all that was metal were playing merely _hours_ after i was scheduled to depart bergen on the hurtigruten. but i wasn't going to be departing on the hurtigruten tomorrow merely hours before. no. i was going to be in the crowd absorbing the godfathers of metal: bill ward, geezer butler, tony iommi, and the prince of fucking darkness himself, ozzy osbourne. the blackest sabbath.

switch into mission mode. [click]

01: a ticket. magnus said he could reserve a ticket for me via the internet using his account. no fee for making the reservation; if i didn't pick up the ticket i wouldn't be charged. only vip tickets were available; 850 kroner [cringe]. [reminder: black sabbath] magnus made the reservation. [thank you so much magnus! really appreciate your help.]

02: my boat. the hurtigruten ticket from bergen to tromso had cost significantly more than my unused plane ticket to trondheim. significantly. i wouldn't be able to justify staying for the show if i couldn't move the departure date back one day or get a refund for the ticket price. i called the main booking number; recording in norwegian. 2230; i forgot how late it was; if you recall, i'd lost it entirely. a woman who worked at the hostel, lena, offered to translate the recording; the office reopened at 0900 tomorrow; i'd need to call back. [thanks lena!]

03: accomodation in bergen. the hostel i'd been staying in, marken gesthjus, was full the night of the show; i'd need to move. lena suggested the jacob's dormitory across the street. i walked across the street and checked; they had space for me.

04: accomodation in tromso. i'd already reserved and paid for a hostel in tromso. i'd need to contact the hostel and push back my arrival date one day, but only if i could move by hurtigruten departure date. i'd need to wait until tomorrow.

the plan was in motion, all in the name of metal; i'd wake up tomorrow and call the hurtigruten office right at 0900. i spent the rest of the evening hanging out with magnus. my first night out in a while, and after two beers [hell, after one beer] i was static uncontrollably. we met kurt when we returned to the hostel. he convinced me that i had made the right decision rescheduling all of my travel arrangements. [watch kurt's redition of ironman; avi movie file; 6mb; 90 degree offset.]