Book Review: When we were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald

Zelda, the protagonist of the novel When we were Vikings, is a high-functioning 21-year-old woman born with fetal alcohol syndrome who has everything she needs to embark on an epic quest. She has her tribe, which includes her protective older brother Gert and his girlfriend Annie, whom Zelda affectionately calls AK47. Her psychiatrist Dr. Laird plays the role of a wise man who can advise her on her quest. And like every other hero, she also has the love of a “fair maiden,” her boyfriend Marxy. Zelda realizes that there is nothing wrong with fair maidens being men, or with brave warriors being women. 
She wants to prove that people are wrong to underestimate her power. In her own words, she declares, “For me, my legend was about showing people that I was not dumb or a shit-heel, that I could help the tribe and also show the world that people like me and Marxy could become powerful” (pg 158). She wants to show the world that she’s a Viking. 

One thing that helps Zelda function is sticking to some strict rules, such as the house rules that she made with Gert for the apartment. Everyone has to take their shoes off at the entrance, for example. And that’s non-negotiable. But when the villain of her legend enters her life, she realizes she’s going to have to get comfortable with not following rules in order to defeat him. Toucan is a drug dealer, and one who Gert owes a lot of money to. Readers will be fascinated by Zelda’s courage when it comes to protecting her loved ones. 

Edmonton-based author Andrew David MacDonald has written a stunning debut novel with a loveable protagonist. The story does not revolve around Zelda’s condition. Instead, It focuses on the important aspects of her life, such as her interests and her relationships with other people, the things that really make her unique. MacDonald crafted a character who readers can truly empathize with, laughing along with her when she is happy and crying when she’s sad. 

The doctors predicted Zelda would never be able to read, live independently, or or have normal social interactions with others. Dr. Laird, the wise man, tells her that some experts thought that all Viking warriors were male. But it turns out that one of the most famous Viking skeletons was actually a woman and that the experts were wrong. He tells Zelda that “sometimes the world thinks something is not possible, but it turns out that they can be wrong. Even fancy scientists can be wrong” (317). Zelda delights us by showing us that everyone who didn’t believe in her was wrong. She triumphs and becomes the hero of her legend. 

For fans of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, this story is heart-touching. And its main character is unforgettable. Her unique way of seeing the world is celebrated as a gift.

The Norse Exploration of North America :o

Are you wondering how I became obsessed with Vikings? Well this post is all about the historical event that made me become obsessed with them. I wrote this back in 2016, but I've decided to revise it and update it with new information straight from the Norse sagas. Plus today is Leif Ericson day, so it seems like a good time to post this. 

 I'm really into the history of the people whom the Norsemen called the "skraelings" AKA the indigenous people of the Americas. But when I started researching the Beothuk people who are native to Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, I came across information about the Norse explorer Leif Ericson's 'Vinland voyages'. 

First, lets talk a bit about the Beothuk people. As I said before, they were the native people of Newfoundland. While some indigenous people of Canada managed to retain their languages and parts of their culture despite colonialism, the Beothuk are all now all gone :( A little bit of their language still survives though, and you can learn it online although it has no native speakers.  A woman named Shanawdithit, who is considered by historians to have been the last Beothuk, learned some English and was able to write Beothuk words using the Roman alphabet. Thanks to her, and the efforts of a few others of the last Beothuks such as Shawnadithit's aunt Demasduit, we now know some words of the Beothuk language. The word 'Beothuk' itself in their language means 'the people'. Shawnadithit died in 1829 of tuberculosis. 

A portrait of Shawnadithit

FUN FACT: Some European settlers called the Beothuk people the "Red Ochre People" because they covered themselves in red ochre :D . 

Historically, the Beothuks were a semi-nomadic group. There were many subdivisions of the Beothuk based on extended family. These subgroups lived away from each other during the winter. During the summer they would join each other in coastal meeting places to arrange marriages and discuss important things like who the next leader should be. The Beothuk were the some of the first native people of Canada to come into contact with Europeans, along with the Inuit. The Europeans began to settle on the coastal regions, exactly where the summer meeting places once were. As their settlement expanded westward, they began to see the local Beothuk as threats to the settlements. Beothuks were hunted down viciously. The ones who weren't murdered died of tuberculosis or other diseases brought over from Europe. These were introduced by English settlers during the early 1700s. 

Of course, the 1700s were NOT when the settlement of the Americas, or even Canada began. Settlement of Canada was attempted by French explorer Jacques Cartier in the 1500s. It was extremely unsuccessful thanks to the fact that Cartier was so STUPID in the way he dealt with the indigenous Iroquois people. The Iroquois were really nice to him and taught him a cure for scurvy (birch tea). To express his gratitude to them for saving his life he kidnapped their chief and a bunch of other people and killed a lot of people. Later the Iroquois allied with the British and wrecked the French.

Anyway, Cartier's expeditions were quite hilarious failures but talking about them in detail would be for another post. Europeans never really became successful in starting Canada's settlement until another French guy, Samuel De Champlain, came along in 1604. Anyway, the point is, Jacques Cartier is credited for being the first European in Canada. 

The title of "first European in the Americas as a whole" is given to Christopher Columbus who was discovered lost at see by native Taino people of the Caribbean in 1492. 

WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS NEITHER OF THESE PEOPLE DESERVE CREDIT. 

Because the first European in Canada was 

LEIF ERICSON

and the first European in the Americas was 

LEIF ERICSON

another fun fact is that

LEIF ERICSON

wasn't an evil scary genocidal horrible person the way columbus and cartier were.

Leif Ericson, or Leifr Airikson, will always be one of my favourite European explorers. His half-sister Freydis Ericsdottir was cool too. 

 Columbus was known for selling 9 year old girls into sex slavery. Even the Europeans of the time admitted he was a genocidal maniac. The only person who liked him was queen Isabella of Spain. 

And Cartier was just stupid.  No monarch in France liked him because he brought back 'gold' and 'diamonds' from the New World which actually turned out to be pyrite and quartz. That's where the expression 'Canadian Gold' comes from to describe something worthless.

He ended France's interest in settling Canada for almost a century. 

I'm sure Eric the Red's son was better than that. 

Anyway, the remainder of this post shall be dedicated to talking about the exciting Norse exploration of North America, which occurred 500 YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS. 

And if any of you still believe that this is pseudo-historical nonsense, well, please go to L'anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and see that there are indeed Viking settlements there. The Norse called that little hamlet of houses "leifsbudir" after Leif of course!

You can book a room in Valhalla lodge (named after the glorious afterlife that Viking warriors went to) in the fabled Vinland and stalk all the skraelings and Vikings there. You can even watch some cheesy white people dressed as Vikings do cool sword fighting reenactments while you're there. I haven't had the pleasure of going to northern Newfoundland myself. However, I have personally met one of the reenactment groups who perform there. THEY WERE COOL. I WISH I COULD FIND THE PICTURES I TOOK WITH THEM BUT I CAN'T :( . 

Sometimes I write fanfictions about Vikings. 

Perhaps I should start calling them the Norsemen instead of Vikings, as Norsemen is what they called themselves. It means "North men" obviously. Viking was a word of the time meaning raider or explorer. It was their occupation not ethnicity. 

Early Settlements in Iceland

The Norse culture originated in the southern Danish peninsula in the 790s. From this time until the Norman conquest of England in 1066, northern Europe was in the period of time known as the Viking age. 

Iceland was settled by the Norsemen in about 870 AD. However, Gaelic monks and other  people had settled the island and established monasteries a bit before that. There weren't any indigenous people on the island, so Icelanders are not guilty of committing mass genocide or anything like that. I mean sure, some Greenlandic Inuit may have visited the island before Europeans, but they never stayed and such an event was never recorded. Iceland is European. It is the BEST European country. 

 NORSEMEN ARE COOLER THAN IRISH MONKS THOUGH. I'm glad they left when they saw the Norsemen or else they'd "get rekt" like the monasteries of Lindisfarne, where the very first Viking raid happened.

"Protect us, O Lord, from the wrath of the Northmen" 

~ a random monk from Lindisfarne before a Viking killed him

The Norse really needed more farmland so they eventually discovered Iceland, the land of Ice and Fire. Once it was settled they wanted even more land. 

SO THEY FOUND 

Grønland 

WHICH HAD NATIVE INUIT PEOPLE LIVING THERE 

Greenland was settled by Erik the Red, also known as Erik Thorvaldsson, which means his dad's name was Thorvald. That's how these patriarchal Norse last names work. And you guessed it, Erik the Red was the father of Leif Eriksson or Ericson or Aerikson or however you want to spell it there are like 5 ways to spell that last name. His daughter's last name was Eriksdottir. Erik the Red wasn't the first European in Greenland but he was the first to actually settle it.

It's like how Samuel De Champlain stole Jacques Cartier's title as the Father of New France. 

Erik the Red, called that because of his epic red beard and hair, settled Greenland. The Norsemen called it Grønland. BUT WE MUST CALL IT KALAALIT NUNAAT BECAUSE IT RIGHTFULLY BELONGS TO THE INUIT. 

Oh well, if the indigneous people take back their land I imagine that place will be a territorial dispute. Perhaps they can share Greenland to play skraelings vs. vikings with each other ad infinitum. 

Erik the Red went to Greenland after he was convicted of manslaughter and banished from Norway. Greenlanders considered him a hero and stuff. Cool. 

He slept around a lot according to sagas and soon had a son named Leif Erikson or Leif the Lucky.
He also had an illegitimate daughter named Freydis Eriksdottir. Freydis sounds liked my own name, Freya, doesn't it? Freya was a Norse goddess of love and beauty. Like me, she had two pet cats and admired the heroic dead, ruling the afterlife of Valhalla for fallen warriors. Her name translates to "noblewoman" or "queen". But before any Scandinavian people accuse me of sacrilege by taking on a goddess' name, I have to say that my parents had no idea that Freya was a Norse goddess before they named me. According to them, the name means 'beloved' in Persian. 

So I suppose you can guess where the history goes from here. Leif Ericson was the first white person to see the Americas minus Greenland right? wrong. 

The first white person to see the Americas was the Icelander Bjarni Herjolfsson in 986 A.D. He saw the distant New World when his ship was blown off course. He saw three different new lands through the icy mist. The Norse saw to it that they were named "Helluland", "Markland" and "Vinland" which are believed to have been Baffin island, Labrador, and Newfoundland respectively. 

Bjarni's tails inspired Leif to sail westward to these cool new islands. He bought Bjarni's own ship and set sail, seeking VINLAND. 

What is Vinland? 

In simple terms, it was the name the Norse gave to northern Newfoundland. But other historians debate that the Norse explorers went southward and eventually discovered a different land which was better and called it Vinland. I think this debate is stupid as there is no evidence for it. Vinland is certainly a lot more than just a name for a measly Norse settlement. It was an idea of paradise from Norse mythology. The 'vin' in Vinland has been translated to mean either "wine" or "meadow/pasture". The latter translation makes a lot more sense to me, as the Norse were always looking for more good farmland. There wasn't much in northern Europe. It only makes sense for an ideal Norse mythological paradise to contain endless farmland. Do you think Leif the Lucky was really lucky when he found that barren, rocky tip of an island teeming with skraelings? Was it really something that deserved to be call Vinland? 

It's like the Spanish idea of "El Dorado". 

"We Spaniards have a disease of the heart that can 

only be cured by gold." 

~ Hernan Cortes, conqueror of the Aztec empire 

Cortes is only second to Columbus on the list-of-historical-figures-I-would-have-murdered-for-fun. 

Vinland was also the name of the ship that Freydis Eiriksdottir sailed to Leifsbudir on the second Norse expedition to the Americas. The crew had both Greenlanders and Icelanders, but Leif didn't come.

The sagas claim the Norse were mostly lumberjacks when they visited the Americas.
 They also traded with the skraelings aka the Red Ochre people. But don't worry, the Norse didn't bring diseases. They were considered clean and well groomed by other Europeans. That is why white women always fell for those vain Vikings. Would you rather have the North-man who you can go on raids to burn down christian monasteries with or the misogynistic catholic scrub who never bathes? Please don't ask Queen Isabella of Spain this question. 

 The Vikings were also way less sexist than Christians and there were just as many female raiders as male ones. The Norse also had pretty hair and were the first Europeans to use combs. 

Exceptionally well preserved Viking combs from a site in Russia. Many Vikings settled in and assimilated into Russian culture.

Some Norse combs also have really pretty designs carved on their handles. 

So they traded with the natives but never actually settled there. But perhaps they had the intention of doing so. Why else would they have established Leifsbudir? 

Why the Vikings left their settlement in Newfoundland: Two possible reasons why

1: Conflict with the natives

There have been accounts that say that the Vikings treated the indigenous people well. They didn't pillage, rape, or kill them. They merely traded. However, there have been also accounts that say that the Vikings did exactly the opposite of that and were as brutal, savage, and genocidal as any other European explorers were. The Beothuk and other indigenous people of the area may have fought and expelled the Vikings. Some people suggest that the Vikings tried giving the natives cow's milk. There is no proof for that but it's a funny story: 
Most Native Americans are lactose intolerant (I have a really weird sense of humor. Sorry I laughed really hard when I typed that for some reason.) The indigenous people started having whatever problems lactose intolerant people have when you give them creamy, thick, raw, stinky milk from the plump udders of Norwegian cows. 

Please, don't start randomly going up to Native American people and asking them if they are lactose intolerant. 

They were colonist cows though so alternately they might have been undernourished tiny cows who can't really produce good quality milk. The indigenous people thought they were being posioned, and so launched an attack on the weird pale blue-eyed aliens who had given them the elixir.

 In my opinion, if conflict with the natives was the reason why the Vikings abandoned Leifsbudir, it probably didn't involve lactose intolerance. It was probably just a war started after the Norse might have done something really Cartier-level idiotic. The good part is that if the Vikings were genocidal and evil, at least they were deported. Who wants to speak Old Norse and have their country capital be Leifsbudir, which may have one day become a sprawling metropolis of over 100,000 people instead of a handful of rugged Norsemen, who knows? 

2: Conflict among themselves

The Vikings might have left North America not because of the natives, but because of conflict with each other. The Greenlanders and Icelanders in Freydis Eriksdottir's crew didn't have much of a reason to like each other.After restlessly dwelling in Leifsbudir, they all might have gone mad, surrounded by endless skraeling-filled forest. Arguments broke out between the Icelandic and Greenlandic crew. Freydis herself was an ill-tempered Greenlander. A battle started in which both sides may have massacred each other. Whoever survived left Vinland forever. This would explain why only one ship returned back from the voyage. Originally there were supposed to be two, the Vinland and a smaller one. 

But no one really knows why they left.

Reasons why you might still dislike the Vikings 

and Leif Ericson:


1) HE CONVERTED TO ChRisTianiTY in his later days *gAsps*
By this time, Christianity was spreading in the Viking world like a plague. Leif converted on a trip to Iceland. :(

2) It's hard to say whether he was violent and genocidal or not. The sagas are difficult, contradictory, even. Did he merely trade with the Beothuk, or try to exterminate them? We may never know.

3) The Vikings had shown their greed for land by taking over Greenland. Maybe they wanted to do the same with Newfoundland?

4) If the intention of the Vikings was to take over Newfoundland, then the only thing that made them unsuccessful was the lack of biological warfare. 

5) The Norse term "skraeling" which they called the indigenous could be taken as highly offensive. It might have meant "savage". The modern Icelandic word "skraelingi" has a similar meaning.

What you can do now that you are obsessed with the Vikings and probably will be for at least a week 

Historical fiction books and tv shows 

By the way, if you read about any culture enough you will become obsessed with it. It's kinda inevitable, so don't feel bad if you now find yourself in a Viking obsession phase. You can indulge in Rick Riordan's new series on Norse mythology, or a very similar series called "The Blackwell Pages" by Kelly Armstrong and Melissa Marr. I've met both authors in person at a book convention. They are awesome and the Blackwell Pages series is amazing, probably better than the Riordan Norse mythology series although less cool than the Greco-Roman series he has written. Also check out "Sword Song" by Rosemary Sutcliffe , a story about a boy named Bjarni banished from Norway for manslaughter (how similar to the Fate of Erik the Red!) who becomes a mercenary. There is also a female part-skraeling character ;D . Check out "The Dream Carvers" and "Eiriksdottir" by Joan Clark and of course the Irish-Canadian tv series "The Vikings".

and remember, Scandinavian folk music is very good so you might want to make a new dank mixtape: 

https://youtu.be/0k01zY822dk  

https://youtu.be/9VYaN6MfRrQ  

https://youtu.be/z2kc570KwUs 

That's all. 

Tuvan Throat Singing and other 'World Music' that I really like

Enjoy this random mixtape I put together :D Obviously I have way more, but I didn't want to overdo it. Sorry that the posts have been really short and uninteresting these days and that they've been sort of quantity over quality lately. 

Some throat singing from Tuva, the southern part of Siberia:

A song with Old Norse lyrics: 

Lol this doesn't really fit the genre, but it's made by an Irish Canadian musician who is inspired by world music:

Andean music:

A song in the Maori language:

Mongolian metal? : 

 A pilgrimage song with Latin lyrics:

 What other music suggestions do you have? Comment below and tell us!

The Black Hand Fox Webcomic attempt #2

Forgive me, please. I know it's really dumb. For those of you who don't get it, the strategy that the Allies, in particular, the Canadians, used to seize Ortona in Sicily was called "mouseholding". It's supposed to be funny because in the webcomic, a mouse says it. Not laughing? It's okay. I know I suck. It's not even sticking to the original theme of the webcomic, which was supposed to be WW1 not WW2.  

The drawing program is excellent, no installations were necessary. You should really check it out: https://sketch.io/sketchpad/ 

It is almost as good as DeviantArt Muro! Okay but DA muro will always be the best just because it is made by DeviantArt. 

So what else is new? Well, I got into Spyglass, which is like a magazine/newspaper/news website thing at my school. I'm probably going to be writing an article about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. I also really want to make a magazine quiz called "what ancient civilization are you?" which will be like one of those really lame Buzzfeed quizzes like "which flavor of potato chip are you?" but better because it will be about ancient civilizations not potato chips. 

That reminds me of this poll that one of my DeviantArt friends made: 

What do you think of when someone says potatoes? chips, food, Incas, Ireland, "whats wrong with this question" or "no"? 

Here is the DA page of the person: http://bigsleeves-arts.deviantart.com/ 

Other Random Things

Is this font legible, BTW? I hope it is. I know my blog uses colors and fonts that can be eye-raping at times. 

Okay so, do you guys know what MONTH it is? That's right everyone, it's: 

Every writer's favourite month is N A N O V E M B E R. Let me explain, every November, there is a a writing contest called "NaNoWriMo". They have a cool crest with a stereotypical historically inaccurate triggering Viking helmet! See?! :

Visit nanowrimo.org to learn more

The rules are that you have to write a minimum of 50,000 words within the month of November. You can upload a cover and write a synopsis and excerpt too. If you get stuck along the way, there is a forum where you can talk to other writers for ideas. If you win you get bragging rights and discounts on a bunch of self publishing and editing softwares.

The last time I entered was in 2013, when I won. Now that I am participating again after 3 years, I feel so nostalgic talking to my old internet friends from 3 years ago including this one girl in the Netherlands who always writes crazily over the minimum 50,000 every year. I think she does like 100,000 words at least or something. The year I won, I wrote 61,000. For reference, 50,000 is around the length of "the Catcher in the Rye". My first published novel, "Misplaced", was 48,000 words. 

So you are probably wondering what my story is about, right? Well, it is currently at 42,000 words and is basically in a futuristic setting where indigenous people are trying to overthrow the government! Beware! And they are basically saving the whole world from a sp00ky tyrant who has come into power. I know that is a very vague plot description. If you have a NaNoWriMo account, you can find me. My username is aztecatl13, and you can read my actual plot synopsis and excerpt. I'm too embarrassed to post it here. 

Also, if you're reading this, chances are you're one of my internet friends or acquaintances and I've used you as a character in my ginormous cast of characters. I have most likely changed your name out of respect for your privacy. Some of my IRL friends such as Vickyish have also been included. Even if you think I hate you, I've probably still used you as a character, probably as a villain or something. For example, a sp00ky white supremacist once added me to a really sketchy Facebook group where a bunch of racists who fancy themselves "theologians" discuss Catholicism. Many of them seem to be homosexuals in denial as well, because they will condemn gay behavior and call Justin Bieber sexy (even though most of them are men) in the same breath. I have used many of their personalities to inspire the villains in my story. That is the only reason why I let white supremacists stick around for some time before I block them. 

Anyway, so when the novel is done I will probably gather up the courage to post the synopsis and everything here and then ask who wants to help proofread the first draft. I'll probably make a public Google Doc and ask my Frypanian fanbase to leave comments on it as they read the unruly manuscript. Perhaps I will illustrate it like I did with my first novel. My art has definitely improved since then, gawd. 

Like seriously. This is something I made in 2012. It is a random Mexican thing: 

Look how much I improved in just 2 years. This was one of my very first acrylic paintings during my nascent Norse mythology obsession phase. There's a Valkyrie:

Now this is my art in 2016. I made this a few days ago. It a random Hetalia-styled Indian thing: 

Please watch me on DeviantArt and I will love you: http://aztecatl13.deviantart.com/ 

PS: I have joined the slam poetry club at my school, so I will probably be posting some poems or something soon. That is all!

PSS: Legend has it that Tlacaelel Quetzalcoatl from the Mexica Movement has changed the layout of his blog! http://americanlatinomusuemisracist.blogspot.ca/ no more "Dynamic Views" ! 

Bye, fam! 

*Insert witty title here*

Look who's back, it's the best shitposter ever! You missed me, didn't you? Tyrian Purple is a beautiful colour. 

Aite, first of all, this blog has had some dank updates to the layout. I will go over them now. 

 New default font set! I thought this font set looked cute. Let me know if you think it isn't legible enough though. 

 Search bar moved to side of page instead of top top avoid clutter and to draw attention to the controversial new header. 

 Removal of the tiled frypan background, which has been on this blog since like forever, but some feedback from Aspen, who despises tiled images, and my boredom of it, caused me to change it. See the decorated frying pans in this picture? They were the background before. I may bring them back if I can't find a better image. For now, enjoy the green.  Personally, I want to add a cool Mexica/Aztec-looking background such as the one Zoe Saadia uses on her author site. Read her books! She is the best historical fiction writer ever, hands down. She's better than Gary Jennings! Anyway, I haven't been able to find a good enough image yet, but I want something like this. If we're going to go with another frying pan background, then something related to this frying pan-like object would be cool. My favicon would also make a good tiled background, but I am bored of tiled backgrounds now. A blog that uses tiled background's well is, A Lonely Potato. Those cacti are cute. I love cacti. 

 At the very bottom of the blog, I have inserted a tag-cloud. Tag-clouds help me to consider which topics I have written a lot about, and which topics I should cover more. Certain keywords, such as "Mexica" pertain to the originally decided theme of this blog, and so I will be able to see if I am diverting too far from that theme. 

YOU KNOW, IF YOU THINK YOU SUCK AT WEB DESIGN, REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO STILL USE THE "DYNAMIC VIEWS" BLOGGER TEMPLATE. I MEAN, SOME OF THOSE BLOGS ARE AWESOME, HAVE AWESOME CONTENT, AND ARE WRITTEN BY AWESOME ADMINS, BUT THEIR TEMPLATE IS UGGGGLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY.

cLICK HeRe foR aN ExAMPLe

also please follow that blog^ it is very nice despite the template.

Frypania is always open to new web design suggestions so feel free to comment, use the chatbox, or the "Stalk Me" page to send us a message!

That is all, really! Sorry that this post is boring af. I should do a long post about an interesting historical topic soon. Thank you to all my faithful Frypanian followers.

I leave you with this dank Norwegian mixtape to listen to:

AU REVOIR, FAM!

My reaction to the 'Sweden under Christianity and Sweden under paganism' meme & Allsherjargoðinn kvaddur

The dank meme above is trying to show how much Sweden benefited from Christianity. The anonymous national socialist who posted this dank meme said he'd choose pagan Sweden over modern Sweden any day. Pagan Sweden'd have "no third world hordes and cultural Marxism around." He is probably referring to how Sweden is becoming more multicultural these days. The immigrants are the 'third world hordes'. By 'cultural Marxism' he is referring to degenerate culture, how European people are influenced by the 'white guilt' media and are therefore less proud of their own culture. This same person protested recently against "white genocide" (try not to laugh when you read that) which he defines as people forcing immigration upon predominantly white countries. "No one tells African countries that they need more multiculturalism," he says.

Aiyaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! This person is a headache. 

So, I think that Christianity didn't really help Sweden like this dank meme suggests. In my opinion, it actually delayed scientific advancement. Norse paganism is better. Also, the real thing that has benefited Sweden and all other European countries is colonialism, which has caused predominantly white countries to be richer. The only reason people leave their countries is because they want their children and/or themselves to have better opportunities. Now, I think these people need to blame themselves for their 'immigration problem'. 

By the way, I am currently reading 'Mein Kampf' because the dank national socialist who posted the dank meme above told me to. It is very cringe-worthy.... but I do kinda like nationalism. To explain why.... here's a quote. The same guy who posted the meme said this in his 'stop white genocide' video: 

" It is not wrong to love your race and heritage. It is not wrong to be proud of who you are. It is not wrong to want to stick with your own people. In fact, it is the right thing to do. It is natural and it is healthy. Those who are against you sticking with your own racial group, your own heritage, are the ones who are truly racist. Stop white genocide! Diversity is a code word for white genocide!"

My Reaction: DAMN IT. THE QUOTE WAS SO GOOD UP UNTIL THOSE LAST TWO LINES ;_; ;_; ;_; ;_; 
You can see that the only reason why I said that I "do kinda like nationalism" was because I like the idea of people having pride in their culture. That of course doesn't mean I have to be a nazi. 

So many things to agree with yet so many things to hate about them, do you know what I mean? I'll post a book review on Mein Kampf once I'm done reading it.... the most controversial thing I've read since 'the Satanic Bible'. 

Sorry for ruining your day with my reaction to a meme. Here is some Icelandic folk music to cheer you up: 

Valkyrie

Hey, fam!

So while I was cleaning my room, I stumbled across an old painting I made when I was 13 that brought back a lot of nice memories. So I thought, why not post it on my blog and talk about it? I thoguht it was really cute. This was the result of taking a few acrylic painting classes that really helped me to improve my art. If you'd like to check out some of my recent artwork, go to aztecatl13.deviantart.com. 

To be honest I'm quite proud. It turned out almost exactly the way I wanted it. 

I call this 'Valkyrie'. 

Ok, so this scene shows a Valkyrie from Norse mythology. The Valkyries were supposed to be beautiful women who rode on horses.  I made her a redhead 'cause redheads are better than blondes lmao. Valkyries were shield maidens (they carried shields and weapons such as spears) 'cause they were warrior women. The duty of a Valkyrie was to find the bodies of warriors who died on the battlefield and take them to Valhalla (the glorious afterlife that was reserved for the heroic dead). So, this picture shows a warrior about to die. Valkyries are lead by the goddess Freyja. ok yeah that's all. 

BAI. 

SUMMER VACATION HAS COME >:D

Frypania updates:

• Remember when I won national novel writing month?! The book has now been published (I won free publishing). You can now buy it on Amazon.com, Amazon Europe, and Createspace. I might make it for sale in other places later. and I'll release a kindle version soon. For more details, please visit the 'store' page. Click here .
• Some of my art is also for sale on the store page.
• 'Misplaced' (my first published book) is now available on Amazon.com & Lulu.com. 

SUMMER VACATION 

   Yes I like this font

 This one is weird

oooo!! Rainbow checkers. 

 

 ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?

BECAUSE NORDIC REFERENCES. THAT'S WHY. 

 <<<<< win -_- 

Stuff I shall be doing this summer:

• NOT celebrating Canada day
• Celebrating my birthday 
• Reading/Writing/Making art/stalking/blogging (the usual)
• Going to India
• Sleeping
• Eating 
• Getting high on chocolate 

Ok, bye!!!!!!!! 

Epic Icelandic Vikings battle song :D

Edit: I found out that this song is actually 'two sostra' by the band called 'in extremo'. It's also in Swedish not Icelandic and has nothing to do with the Vikings :/ .


I don't know what the lyrics are.
I don't know what the lyrics mean.
I don't know if this is authentic or not.

Hmm.... even the description of the youtube video lacks information :P *shrugs* So now I don't even know what this song is called.

Well, this is mysterious.

Also, here's a link to another epic icelandic song. Its called krummi by valravn.

If anyone knows anything about either of these songs, please tell me!!

My Life right now

I feel like I haven't updated in such a long time. So I'm going to do that :P 

My feelings/the weather

The good news is that I don't feel all sad and guilty and lazy and depressed for no reason anymore. That's probably because the weather is getting warmer and sunnier. The snow hasn't completely melted yet, but its an improvement and the weather really influences my mood so right now I'm happy. Yay!! It feels good to be happy

 < it's a FACE zomg 

A blog by one of my friends/stalk victims

read http://voicefromthegrave.wordpress.com/ it's amazing. I think I've told y'all to read it before but even if you have you have to read it again. 

School stuff

I'm also extremely happy because I haven't been getting as much homework as I usually do. Of course, there's still the pressure of the ISP and a bunch of other long term projects and shiz, but it's relatively better. 

Oh yes, there are some very very very very very very AWESOME things happening in school. First of all, later this month are the slam poetry finals. I got in because I passed the semi-finals so I'm going :D I have a good feeling about this. I'm sure my school will win. I'm entering with this very bad poem that I wrote that some how got into the finals I don't know why because its terrible: http://1drv.ms/1kAeKhQ 

Lol it doesn't even have a title. If you have time to waste on reading the poem then please waste it and help me think of a title :P 

The second awesome thing is that in May the Red Maplers are going to the Red Maple award ceremony. 

Do you know how EPIC that is?! I sure hope I'll get to go. Most likely I will though. I was a voter after all. I voted for the book 'Loki's wolves'. If I go then I'll get to see a lot  of fantastic authors like Eric Walters & Deborah Ellis. The authors are all very famous and Canadian :-P . 

So in case you don't know, Red maple book club is where you read at least 5 of the selected 10 books (I read 6. trying to read all 10.) and then you vote for your favorite book and then you find out which book won @ the awards. 

The reason why I voted for Loki's wolves is because it's about a bunch of children who are trying to stop the end of the world and it has an ancient culture connection to the Vikings so it talks about Norse mythology. That's awesome X-D . 

I love books like that :-P .

For those of you that have read Loki's wolves, can you believe that my friend actually SHIPS Matthew and Laurie?!?!?!?!?!? A Brekke and a Thorsen can NOT be shipped!!!!!!!