I was thinking about making one of these posts for a long time, but I was inspired to actually do it when I saw Katja’s post.  Here’s some random info you may or may not already know about me.

1. I play the piano. I was classically trained as a kid and despite not owning a piano in my house now, I’ve always been able to pick it back up.  I feel very lucky that I learned how to play and pushed myself all those years to keep up with it.  Playing the piano made it easy to read and write music, encouraged me to learn other languages, and I really do believe it helped exercise my brain.  (I was a nerd that did very well in school.)  It also made it easy to learn to play other instruments in school which meant extra credits and band trips.  Yeah, I was a band geek minus all that American Pie sex-camp stuff.
2. I have more than a couple languages under my belt but sadly hardly use any of them!  I took French for 12+ years in school (even in university), German for 4 years, and tried to take Spanish and Italian when they were offered as electives.  Obviously now I’ve got fluent Norwegian under my belt which means I’ve got no problems with Danish or Swedish either (all my doctors are Swedish and speak Swedish) but would like to learn more Finnish.  I understand a few sentences and basic vocabulary and instructions for cooking food but nothing that could help me if we took a vacation there.  Somehow I still held onto the little Ukrainian and Cantonese that I learned as a kid but it’s strange – I can’t read any Chinese but remember how to say things. But when it comes to Ukrainian I can read (the cyrillic alphabet) but when I want to say things I’m at a loss for words.  I guess if you don’t use it, you lose it!
3. I never took Ørjan’s name when we married because I like my name and wanted to keep it. I sometimes write it as Danylewich-Martinussen, and many people send me mail addressed to Candace Martinussen, but I never legally changed my name and have no plans to do so.
4. I love a bargain and rarely spend money on myself, but I have been known to spoil my loved ones and then some.  I will go back to the cashier for a missed dollar rebate, buy in bulk when there’s a sale, and usually only buy things that are on sale and have probably been reduced several times.  Of course I do this with dignity and pride (and I always do it politely with respect) but realize it’s also something I’ve inherited from my thrifty mother.  She grew up with eight other brothers and sisters (first-generation Canadian) in a very poor Chinese immigrant family.  I rarely throw things out if I can help it, donate mercilessly to avoid clutter, and I save every last bit of almost everything to avoid waste of materials and money.  I do shop, and I do like new and nice things, but I prefer to be thrifty and I make no apologies for it.  I would like to think that I have respect and understand the value of not just money, but what we already own.
5. I’m incredibly conscientious about the food that I/we eat. I usually make everything from scratch not just because I love cooking and baking, but also because it tastes better.  I can’t really remember the last time we ate anything that was ready-made or considered fast food.  It’s true that I do bake goodies for Ørjan, but it’s all in moderation.  Even Magnus is on his way to eating right and developing good eating habits.  At lunch we often have leftovers of wild rice, salmon, and vegetables, and we always drink milk.  Another point is that we try to buy organic and organic-freerange products when available and make and effort to budget for them.
6. My not-so-secret indulgence is salmon. Wild, farmed, moussed… it’s all so wonderful.  I love the way a juicy and slightly-underdone piece of samon tastes when it’s pressed against my cheeks.  In our house we eat salmon at least once a week (usually each Monday) for dinner and there are never any leftovers.  I love the fact that Magnus also loves salmon.  When he eats it he literally says, “Nam nam” (it means “yum yum”) when he shoves it in his mouth.
7. I don’t drink coffee.  After a seriously horrible addiction during the first couple of months of university I realized I had to get it out of my life.  I rarely have a cup and only take one if I’m offered it as a guest.  We only keep instant in the house for when unexpected guests show up.  Only when we’re hosting an event do we go out and buy specialty or ground coffee.
8. I have NEVER owned an iPod.  NEVER. I can’t say that I’ve regretted it either.  I’ve owned one mp3 player in my life and even then barely used it.  I think living in Europe is probably one of the reasons for it since I’ve always used my mobile for for music.  It’s not like we live in Japan where phones could probably do your income tax and make your dinner, but owning phones from Sony Ericcson has always made it easy to have everything I could possibly need.