It’s kind of hard to blog when overshadowed by the horrendous calamities in Asia. The petty details of our lives here are pretty trivial when the newsfeeds keep rolling in with ever-more gruelling details and increasing death tolls. At present there are 10 Icelanders unaccounted for and as always when disaster strikes one is made tangibly aware of the sense of community here – if something happens to someone in the tribe, it is acutely felt. Meanwhile, Icelanders also share in the vast sense of loss experienced by the other Nordic nations – for they, too, are our community and our tribe.

Somehow the thought of the imminent New Years Party with the accompanying pyrotechnics and merriment seems vastly inappropriate under these circumstances. There’s definitely a shadow.

THE KIEFER FAN CLUB

… Or something similar seems to have latched on to yesterday’s curt post about Kiefer being in town ‘cause my site traffic shot right up. Hi guys! Wish I could give you play-by-play Kiefer reports, but I can’t, except to say that he’s being spotted in all these various bars about town, having a blast. And he’s been generous with the autographs ‘cause apparently he’s got good manners. That’s about all the paper says, or at least all I care to relate. ‘Cause the paper in question is of the yellow-press pulp variety and utter crap if the truth be told and I wouldn’t even know this much except that for some reason it appeared free outside my apartment door this morning.

However, I have discovered a sure-fire way of boosting my site traffic – jus’ mention somebody famous in the blog. Like – Jamie Kennedy is here! (true). And also Laura Harris! (true) And Eli Roth! (true) And Martin Scorsese! (unconfirmed) And Britney Spears! (false) And Madonna! (false) And Homer Simpson! (true … er, false). And … somebody stop me before I use any more exclamation marks! Please!

THE WEATHER

Whoa! Like, Storm Warning! Exclamation mark! The whole time I’ve been sick it’s been a picture-perfect fresh-white-snow-with-Christmas-lights-gleaming kind of scenario, and now – storm warning in effect, winds from the east, and moderate temps. All the snow turning to slush and blowing away in big globs. One can only hope it disappears completely before it freezes again, which is in the cards for tomorrow. Otherwise we’ll have slip-sliders packing the ER at the National Hospital, yet again. Sunrise was at 11.22; sunset scheduled for 15.38.