"Oh, Nornír, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course,that it's no shame to be poor.
But it's no great honour, either!
So, would be so terrible if I had opportunity to make a small fortune?"
If I were a Viking,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a Viking man.
I wouldn't have to plough fields.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
And I'd be a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.
I'd build a strong long ship with oars by the dozen,
Right in the middle of the port.
A fine linen sail with a fierce dragon headed prow.
There would be one long gangplank just for going up,
And one even longer coming down,
And one more leading nowhere, just for show.
I'd fill my ship with Danes and Norsemen and Swedes and Finns
For the world to see and hear.
And each loud "cheep"and "swaqwk" and "honk" and "quack"
Would land like a sword-blow on the ear,
As if to say "There sailsa Viking crew."
If I were a Viking,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a Viking man.
I wouldn't have to plough fields.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
And I'd be a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.
I see my wife, my Hilda, looking like a Viking's wife
With a proper set of rings.
Supervising churls to her heart's delight.
I see her putting on airs and strutting like a peacock.
Oh, what a happy mood she's in.
Screaming at the servants, day and night.
The most important men in town would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to spare them,
Like a Baldur the White.
"If youplease, Jarl Eirkr..."
"Pardon me, Jarl Eirikr..."
Posing problems that would cross old Oðinn'seye!
And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer 'Yes' or 'No'
When you're a Viking, they think you really know!
If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack
To study rune casts everyday.
And maybe earn a seat old Oðinn's hall.
And I'd discuss the sagas with the learned men, several hours every day.
That would be the sweetest thing of all.
If I were a Viking,
Yaha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a Viking man.
I wouldn't have to plough fields.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.
Jim's Journal
This is where I write things and dream of being a hero
15 July 2009 @ 11:50 am
Current Music: Focus - Hocus Pocus
2 comments | Leave a comment
10 July 2009 @ 08:13 pm
That's 'Thank the Æsír it's Freyjudagr.'
There was Thai food that appeared suddenly for Joel's Birthday. Ha-ha, he's 32! Which makes me nearing 27. My impending mortality is a tragedy, whereas Joel's is humour of the highest calibre.
There was Thai food that appeared suddenly for Joel's Birthday. Ha-ha, he's 32! Which makes me nearing 27. My impending mortality is a tragedy, whereas Joel's is humour of the highest calibre.
09 July 2009 @ 09:55 pm
So. Emily and I have purchased a puppy.
She has no name yet, is barely two weeks old and we bring her home on the 15th of August.
There's a pic under the ( cut )
That is, of course, me holding her in my mighty paws.
Isn't she a cutie?
Anyone have a name suggestion?
She has no name yet, is barely two weeks old and we bring her home on the 15th of August.
There's a pic under the ( cut )
That is, of course, me holding her in my mighty paws.
Isn't she a cutie?
Anyone have a name suggestion?
Current Mood: 
bouncy
bouncy02 July 2009 @ 12:39 am
Spent today in a most Canadian of fashion:
I was amongst a couple thousand people queued up patiently and politely waiting for free food from the Mandarin, a Chinese buffet that's celebrating the fact that, 35 years ago, the founder of the chain arrived as an immigrant to Canada and set about getting his Citizenship. Then he opened a Chinese buffet that has become one of the largest Canadian-owned restaurant chains in Ontario (22 restaurants in the province) and has enjoyed a whole lot of prosperity. So on Canada Day, the owners gave anyone who could prove their Canadian Citizenship (Birth Certificate and Photo ID, Citizenship Card or Passport) free access to the buffet, free soft drinks and free tea and coffee. As it was my brother's 25th birthday as well, he decided that he'd like to partake. So partake we did. It took 4 hours in line to get in, but we spent just under two hours at the buffet, chatting, eating (but not much - none of us had eaten prior and the first hit of food was enough to fill us up, pretty much) and having a good time.
After that, we (Emily, myself, Mark, Da and Mom) went for a bit of a drive and got an obscene amount of ice cream, then they (Mom, Da and Mark) left to go back to Kitchener. Emily and I then spent the rest of the evening at the Carnival and watching fireworks.
All in all, it wasn't too bad a day. Got to partake in the third Great Canadian pass-time, queueing up politely (the other two being drinking and playing/watching Hockey, even if you don't really like it), saw some freakin' awesome fireworks and got offered the opportunity to be a Male Model (!) for Alex's photography ("Aaaah," I can hear you say "That makes more sense.")
How'd you lot spend your Canada Day?
I was amongst a couple thousand people queued up patiently and politely waiting for free food from the Mandarin, a Chinese buffet that's celebrating the fact that, 35 years ago, the founder of the chain arrived as an immigrant to Canada and set about getting his Citizenship. Then he opened a Chinese buffet that has become one of the largest Canadian-owned restaurant chains in Ontario (22 restaurants in the province) and has enjoyed a whole lot of prosperity. So on Canada Day, the owners gave anyone who could prove their Canadian Citizenship (Birth Certificate and Photo ID, Citizenship Card or Passport) free access to the buffet, free soft drinks and free tea and coffee. As it was my brother's 25th birthday as well, he decided that he'd like to partake. So partake we did. It took 4 hours in line to get in, but we spent just under two hours at the buffet, chatting, eating (but not much - none of us had eaten prior and the first hit of food was enough to fill us up, pretty much) and having a good time.
After that, we (Emily, myself, Mark, Da and Mom) went for a bit of a drive and got an obscene amount of ice cream, then they (Mom, Da and Mark) left to go back to Kitchener. Emily and I then spent the rest of the evening at the Carnival and watching fireworks.
All in all, it wasn't too bad a day. Got to partake in the third Great Canadian pass-time, queueing up politely (the other two being drinking and playing/watching Hockey, even if you don't really like it), saw some freakin' awesome fireworks and got offered the opportunity to be a Male Model (!) for Alex's photography ("Aaaah," I can hear you say "That makes more sense.")
How'd you lot spend your Canada Day?
Current Music: Blind Guardian - Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)
26 June 2009 @ 05:22 pm
So. Got crushed by a pile of stuff exploding - literally! - from our storage closet today. Less than comfortable. Spent 3 hours putting the stuff back into some semblance of order. Found a bunch of books. Remembered that I purchased a copy of Geir T. Zoega's Concise Dictionary of Old Norse a while back. Wonder where it is. Know where it's not, and that's in the closet.
So tired. So sore.
So tired. So sore.
26 June 2009 @ 12:23 pm
My gods and goddesses have some weird attributes. Oðinn's eye was sacrificed by him to gain the wisdom of the world at Mimír's well. Týr sacrificed his hand to bind Fenrisúlfr until Ragnarøkr. Heimdallr's teeth are made of gold (and, rumour has it, he's got square pupils and horns like a goat)*. Sif's hair is made, literally, of gold. Viðar was born wearing an iron boot. Njórðr has the most beautiful feet of all the gods**. Þórr is - of all of them - pretty much the most normal, what with his massive beard, mystic hammer and magical goats. I mean, even Freyja - whose hall Fólkvangr I'd not mind to wind up in - turns into a falcon and had her lover turned into a boar so that he wouldn't be killed by the other gods.
They're just... weird. Still, I dig 'em.
And now I return you to your regularly scheduled Internetting.
*There's suggestions - only fragmentary, though - that Heimdallr was fairly goat-like in appearance. A kenning for a sword is 'head of Heimdallr' and, as the guards of Norse swords tend to droop like goat's horns, some scholars speculate that he may have been the originator of the horned helmets worn by the dancers in cave paintings.
**Seriously. That's how he married Skaði. She thought she was gonna get married to Baldr, but Oðinn would only let her choose her husband by their feet and, as Baldr spends most of his time barefoot and running around the wilderness, and Njorðr spends most of his time swimming and not standing, she chose the Ocean-King.
They're just... weird. Still, I dig 'em.
And now I return you to your regularly scheduled Internetting.
*There's suggestions - only fragmentary, though - that Heimdallr was fairly goat-like in appearance. A kenning for a sword is 'head of Heimdallr' and, as the guards of Norse swords tend to droop like goat's horns, some scholars speculate that he may have been the originator of the horned helmets worn by the dancers in cave paintings.
**Seriously. That's how he married Skaði. She thought she was gonna get married to Baldr, but Oðinn would only let her choose her husband by their feet and, as Baldr spends most of his time barefoot and running around the wilderness, and Njorðr spends most of his time swimming and not standing, she chose the Ocean-King.
19 June 2009 @ 11:10 pm
19 June 2009 @ 11:09 am
17 June 2009 @ 09:35 pm
Here there be poetry, read by a wonderful man who goes by the Youtube Username of SpokenVerse.
( Look under the cut. )
( Look under the cut. )
17 June 2009 @ 05:08 pm
Happy birthday, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
sentry5, you fat fucking tit.
sentry5, you fat fucking tit.Current Music: Seatbelts & DJ Food - POWER OF KUNG FOOD REMIX
16 June 2009 @ 09:12 pm
You have 15 minutes to list 15 books you've read that will stick with you forever (In no particular order:
Start time: 21.03
1) Don Quixote
2) The Three Musketeers
3) Beau Geste
4) Invisible Cities
5) The Non-Existent Knight and Cloven Viscount
6) The Illiad
7) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
8) The Chrysalids
9) The Prose and Poetic Eddas
10) The Odyssey
12) Egilssaga Skalagrimsson
13) Njalssaga
14) Beowulf
15) The Phoenix on the Sword
Finish time: 21.11
Start time: 21.03
1) Don Quixote
2) The Three Musketeers
3) Beau Geste
4) Invisible Cities
5) The Non-Existent Knight and Cloven Viscount
6) The Illiad
7) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
8) The Chrysalids
9) The Prose and Poetic Eddas
10) The Odyssey
12) Egilssaga Skalagrimsson
13) Njalssaga
14) Beowulf
15) The Phoenix on the Sword
Finish time: 21.11
Current Music: Mai Yamane - THE REAL FOLK BLUES
16 June 2009 @ 12:22 am
This is really damned cool, but what would I use it for?
Current Music: Mai Yamane - Want It All Back (Clavinet Hater Version)
13 June 2009 @ 11:35 pm
So, today was, I think, the best way to spend the day after Graduation:
I wasn't hungover from the drinking last night, I was victorious at the 40k campaign today, made some delicious curried lamb for dinner, watched like three hours of The Transformers with Emily, Joel and Patti and had Oreos.
Great day or Greatest day? You decide.
I wasn't hungover from the drinking last night, I was victorious at the 40k campaign today, made some delicious curried lamb for dinner, watched like three hours of The Transformers with Emily, Joel and Patti and had Oreos.
Great day or Greatest day? You decide.
13 June 2009 @ 12:23 am
Evidently all of my IM programs have crashed. For those of you with whom I was chatting, many apologies and I'll catch you later, but I'm going to bed now; big day (again) tomorrow.
Also, I did a double-check and, yes, they did indeed have my degree in the 'Congrats, you're graduated!' folder they give you at the ceremony. I'm officially out of there!
Now to start on saving the world as is my duty as the Omega Grad of the GBLS department.
But for now? Sleep.
Night, all!
Also, I did a double-check and, yes, they did indeed have my degree in the 'Congrats, you're graduated!' folder they give you at the ceremony. I'm officially out of there!
Now to start on saving the world as is my duty as the Omega Grad of the GBLS department.
But for now? Sleep.
Night, all!
12 June 2009 @ 06:13 am
There's something sadistic about forcing a bunch of people who've made it a point to not wake up before noon get dressed up in their fanciest of clothing to sit around an auditorium for four hours to receive a piece of paper.
Ah, well.
By noon today I'll manage to still be married and be a bachelor. Fancy stuff, that.
Ah, well.
By noon today I'll manage to still be married and be a bachelor. Fancy stuff, that.
06 June 2009 @ 01:01 am
Just an FYI, for those of you who might not realize it.
Today, 6th June, 2009, is the 65th anniversary of the largest single-day amphibious invasion in the history of the world. I speak, of course, of the Normandy Invasion, Operation Overlord, Operation Neptune or D-Day. Whatever you call it, it was on this day 65 years ago that over 150,000 men from Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Free France landed on the Normandy coast to begin the invasion and liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. Of those, over 10,000 were killed, wounded or captured. Of the almost 400,000 Germans, Polish and Soviet POWs and Georgians who defended the beaches, roughly the same number were killed, wounded or captured. It was on this day that the environment in which most of you reading this were born and raised began to take shape. Everything that shaped the framework on which the world worked from 1945 through until 1991 arguably began on this day, 65 years ago.
So, today, while you go about your business like you would any other Saturday, take a moment to remember the sacrifices made on this day those 65 years ago. Without the events of that day, that single day, or had the day ended differently, the world you and I now live in would be an entirely different place.
Today, 6th June, 2009, is the 65th anniversary of the largest single-day amphibious invasion in the history of the world. I speak, of course, of the Normandy Invasion, Operation Overlord, Operation Neptune or D-Day. Whatever you call it, it was on this day 65 years ago that over 150,000 men from Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Free France landed on the Normandy coast to begin the invasion and liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe. Of those, over 10,000 were killed, wounded or captured. Of the almost 400,000 Germans, Polish and Soviet POWs and Georgians who defended the beaches, roughly the same number were killed, wounded or captured. It was on this day that the environment in which most of you reading this were born and raised began to take shape. Everything that shaped the framework on which the world worked from 1945 through until 1991 arguably began on this day, 65 years ago.
So, today, while you go about your business like you would any other Saturday, take a moment to remember the sacrifices made on this day those 65 years ago. Without the events of that day, that single day, or had the day ended differently, the world you and I now live in would be an entirely different place.
Current Music: Ensiferum - Token of Time
02 June 2009 @ 11:15 am
First in a three part Italian masterpiece, or schlocky Diablo rip-off?
You decide. Personally, I prefer the poem.
You decide. Personally, I prefer the poem.
Current Music: Steve Conte - No reply
01 June 2009 @ 12:18 pm
Well, not really, but I can hardly speak. Ergo, sent home from work for today.
31 May 2009 @ 02:07 pm
So, I downloaded the Cleasby and Viguffson dictionary of Old Norse/Icelandic in .pdf format. I did this because the closest hard copy I could get is in the Reference Section of the Toronto Public Library. The next closest is in the Reference Section of the University of Toronto. So, I have the .pdf. The only hitch is that it has no bookmarks and is over 900 pages in length. So I've just spent a good chunk of the day bookmarking the Preface, Grammar, Introduction, 18 Consonants, 13 Vowels, a list of British Rivers and a list of Gaelic Names and Nicknames occurring in Lándnamabók. Next is to internally bookmark each letter for letter-pairs (ha-, hv-, etc.) and then I should be good to go.
I knew that doing translation would be a lot of work, but I didn't realise that worst of the work would be getting my freakin' tools in order.
I knew that doing translation would be a lot of work, but I didn't realise that worst of the work would be getting my freakin' tools in order.
Current Mood: 
accomplished
accomplishedCurrent Music: Korpiklaani - Korven Kuningas