Dear World,

there has been a while since we sat down and had a good chat. Quite a lot of things have happened since then. I’m not sure if you really want to hear about everything, but because you went ahead and opened this letter, even though you knew I was the one who sent it to you, I’m guessing you’re at least a little bit curious about what has been going on.

The most noticeable change in my life is probably that me and Gine is no longer together. I won’t ponder and analyze what went wrong and why it happened. So I’ll just leave it at that.

Another thing that has happened since we last spoke is that I’m now unemployed. But have no worries, there is no need to feel sorry for me. It was my own choice. The timing is horrible, with the global economic depression and all, but now was still the right time to do it. I’m browsing through the classifieds every day, but I think it will still take a little time before I’m ready to hit the rat race again. By then it might be even harder to get a job, but thankfully I have savings to stay afloat for a while.

That brings me to the next thing that is (or might be) happening: Even though I swore that starting a company from scratch was something I would never, ever do again, that might be exactly what I’m doing. The whole thing is just starting and right now it’s only 15 or so OpenOffice Impress slides, but if the people I’m going to pitch the idea to like it, this will be a very interesting year, at least in terms of work. If it falls through, so be it.

I’m also finally able to exercise regularly. So far in 2009, I’ve been to the gym ten or eleven times, and that’s not too bad. I’m doing a mix of strength and stamina exercises and even though I can’t actually see any real changes yet, I’m hoping to do that come summer. Who knows, maybe I’ll even see more summers if I manage to get in shape.

My cellphone is a device that I’d wanted to get rid of for a very long time. The problem is that I’ve grown too attached to the make believe need that it’s of utter importance that I’m available at any time and any place. I’ve come to realize that I will probably never be able to get totally rid of my cellphone, but I’m gradually trying to get less attached to it. Now I’m normally not taking the phone with me when I’m going to the grocery store and the gym (if I’m going any further away from the apartment, I’m taking it with me, because it’s also my MP3 player and that I will never be able to live without unless I go deaf), and I’m leaving the phone in the living room when I go to bed at night. I feel better already.

I’ve got three trips planned this year. In the beginning of February I’m going to Kyiv with a few other guys, mainly just to drink beer and hard liquor. In April, however, I’m going on a tad more ambitious trip - I’m heading back to Asia, to China and then to North Korea. At least I’m hoping to get into the country, I haven’t applied for a visa yet and who knows what North Korea is like in four months time, with Kim missing and the talks about their nuclear arms technology that suddenly surfaced again recently. The third trip will be to a country that hosts a Formula 1 race. I want to see Lewis hit the barriers.

A question I’ve been asked often in the last three weeks is what I’m actually doing with all my spare time. Well, I do exercise and work on my new project, as I wrote above. I’ve also started to socialise with people again. It’s very pleasant to be able to make an appointment without having work as my number one priority. I’m also reading books, watching TV and playing computer games. No shockers there, then.

So, there you go; there have been some rather dramatic changes in my life over the last couple of months. I will try harder to keep you posted on everything, at least write you a little more often than I’ve been doing lately. It’s just that some times you just don’t feel like writing - even though you know you should. You probably know how it is.

No hard feelings?

Yours aye,

Vegard