Living in this abandoned vacation village in western Sardinia was exotic for about 12 minutes. When I figured out that I couldn’t even buy bread out here and that it wasn’t going to be warm enough for topless sunbathing all winter, the novelty wore off rather quickly.
OK, the village is not completely abandoned. There are a handful of tenacious year-round residents keeping me company. There’s also a small group of sorry people that actually commute out here from the city each day to run the three or four cafes serving the city folk that come out on the weekends to stroll by the sea, linger over coffee and smugly revel in the thought that they can jump into their cars and race back to civilization the instant they get bored.
However, at night, it’s really just me and a dozen or so other people, scattered over the length of the village, hiding out in our homes and cultivating weird eccentricities.
Though we’re only 10 kilometers (about five miles) from the city, there’s a strange, but undeniable sensation of being cut off from society out here. A number of factors reinforce these feelings: For one, the bus to and from the city runs less than once an hour and stops all service at 9PM. Missing this bus is like missing a plane; you’ve got a interminable wait until the next departure or worse, you become stranded somewhere overnight. And before you ask, no, there are no taxis.
Moreover, my one and only connection with the greater outside world, the internet, is dismal out here. I have a gadget that I shove into a USB port that gives me internet service over cellular frequencies. This should theoretically allow me to connect wherever I am, even on a ferry in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Unfortunately, the broadcast towers out here in the village are seemingly still running off hardware lashed together during Mussolini’s time, delivering antiquated data transfer at speeds that would have irritated Thomas Edison.
To make matters worse, my house happens to be something of a bunker. The weak cellular signal can’t penetrate the walls, so when I want to connect to the internet, I literally have to go stand out in the middle of the street, waving my laptop around like a divining rod, trying to find the elusive cellular sweet spot. Sweet Jesus, I had faster, more reliable internet service in the jungle mountains of Malaysian Borneo!
But the defining indication of my remote existence is the absolute silence that descends here at night. All you can hear is the sea, sloshing on the beach, the distant sounds of motorcycle geeks, cranking the throttle wide open for speed tests on the empty country roads and me and my neighbors quietly mumbling to ourselves.
This seclusion, along with the idiosyncrasies that bloom and gradually distill when you know that the nearest human is a half-deaf pensioner in a beach condo a quarter mile away, has given way to a variety of nutty activities.
As previously mentioned, a lot of talking to myself has been going on, but that’s nothing new. I did that without shame while I was still at the Federal Reserve with two dozen increasingly unsettled people in earshot.
Furthermore, I was getting quite comfortable walking around the house wearing nothing but a pair of socks, with all the doors and windows wide open. That habit came to an abrupt end on the day a family arrived unannounced to spend a weekend in the upstairs apartment, while I was engaged an undignified bathroom task, clearly visible from the terrace.
When a hard rain knocked out the satellite TV one night, I kept myself occupied by doing poorly considered things like testing the theory of whether a watched pot really won’t boil. To my consternation, it did take about three times longer than usual for the water to boil and I’ve been too creeped out to repeated the exercise ever since.
However, the defining moment of my isolation occurred a couple days ago when I figured out that the comments area of this blog was busted, and had been for over two weeks! (By the way, I want to thank all you guys for giving me a heads up about that, right away, lickety-split and all – ya bunch of jackholes.)
The comments area apparently stopped working after I, with immense help from smarter people, fixed a couple minor nagging details that only an obsessive-compulsive webmaster would notice. In addition to furthering my lifetime record for breaking two things for every one thing I fix to 10,395 and 3 (see how the text in the right margin spontaneously became bigger? Welcome to my world), this event caused me to seriously consider how many people were out there reading the hooey that I post here each week.
First there was the anxiety-fueled two week run when I got exactly zero comments, which by the second week had me convinced that I had somehow missed out on WWIII. Really, there could be no other explanation. When I discovered that the comments area was jacked up, I was relieved for all of two seconds, briefly returning to the fantasy that I have untold dozens of avid readers visiting my blog each day, until I was forced to wonder why no one had bothered telling me the comments area was on the fritz. This again forced me to consider the possibility that maybe no one told me, because no one was trying to leave a comment, because no one was reading, because I’d alienated everyone by incessantly talking about myself, claiming to be a literary genius (rightfully so), and bragging about my spectacular rear end.
I treated this vicious circle of self-doubt with a bottle fine Sardinian wine, followed by some finer grapa. After waiting 24 hours for several million of my brain synapses to re-animate, I got right to the grueling task of begging someone to fix my comments area (Thanks Evan!).
To be fair, I can’t blame this last bit of neurosis on the creepy solitude I endure here in the village. Much of the blame lays with my fancy new visitor statistics counter. It seemed pretty awesome at first; I could pull reports and look up all kinds of juicy information about you guys like how many of you were visiting for the first time and how many were returning visitors. When you visited and where in the world you were surfing from. I could even generate a Google world map with little pin points, showing your country, state, city and time of last visit! I could see what web site you came from, what search engine you used to find me and what key words you used at that search engine. I could see what page you landed on, your navigation path through the blog and what page you left from. Really the only information that wasn’t readily available though this counter were your names and how you take your coffee.
Quite frankly, I was having a ball studying my demographics until I found the ‘length of visit’ report, an evil tool that shattered my ego like a bag of frozen rigatoni (don’t ask – it transpired on the same night as the boiling water fiasco). According to the report, the majority of my visitors, anywhere from one third to three quarters on a given day, visit my blog for ‘five seconds or less‘. Five seconds??? How could that be? Even the most gifted speed reader couldn’t zap through one of my epic blog entries in five seconds!!
I spent a minute contemplating this development. I had another bottle of wine in my hand and the corkscrew at the ready, before the obvious hit me; those people visiting my blog for five seconds or less weren’t people at all. They were web-bots.
As I understand it, some of them are search engine spiders, some are link-bots, populating useless link sites and some are spam-bots trolling for email addresses to add to spam distribution lists. Anyway, assuming I’m interpreting the information correctly, what I thought were very impressive visitor statistics are significantly smaller than I had previously believed. Still, they’re admirable numbers, considering all I do is write about is myself, casually declare myself a literary genius and wax on about my butt.
Oh how I long for the days with my old, Byzantine stat counter that did only one thing; list the number of visitors. Back then I could go to bed at night thinking that all those hits were real life people, spending hours on my blog, basking in the glory of my travel writing high jinks, chuckling at my attempts at wit and idly wondering if my booty really was as splendid as I claimed.
But no, it seems that my largest reading audience are bits of software, whipping through my blog in a flash, hunting for specific word and character combinations, with the exquisite contours of my behind not even registering as an afterthought.
As you can see, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. Moreover, with the value of the US dollar tanking, my Wine Therapy is starting to get discouragingly expensive. Now, I don’t want to come off as sounding needy, because we all know artists abhor attention and praise, but I’d like to test the stoutness of my newly repaired comments area. I’m asking that each and every one of you humans reading this to leave a comment. Yes, even you, the one who just said “Naw, I’m not encouraging that pathetic cry for help”. By the way, if you really did just say that out loud, you got nothin’ on me buddy.
You don’t have to write something clever, or advise me in what capacity I should be seeking mental help (I get enough of that from my agent); just your name, where you’re surfing from and the best song you’ve heard in the past week. That last request is so I can get a bead on what musical progress has been made since I retreated to my Village of Solitude and I can buy myself the right CDs for Christmas.
And remember, if you don’t leave a comment, I know your IP address and I’ve got a legion of web-bot readers who’d love to get to know you better.
Thank you and come again!
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December 12th, 2006 at 6:32 am
OK, I’ll start things off (to make sure this piece of crap still works)
I’m Leif. I’m currently in Oristano, Sardinia, Italy.
The best song I listened to this week isn’t particularly new, but it’s still great: “Dirty Harry” by the Gorillaz.
(Hey, it worked!)
December 12th, 2006 at 6:36 am
My name is Evan and I don’t drink coffee.
Sorry to bust your bubble, but Search Engines and web bots, don’t trigger (or shouldnt) your stat program.
If you want a more accurate and reliable state program try Google Analytics.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:43 am
Well that fractionally improves my human reader numbers (punches air), but why so many for five second or less? Maybe those search engines keep latching on to all my talk about my fine ass and people searching for something else are getting my blog in search results? Then when they see that’s there’s no streaming video of my ass at the top of the page, they click away?
Hmm, there’s an idea…
December 12th, 2006 at 6:59 am
I’m guessing it is because web stats programs don’t know how long someone looks at your pages, only how long they spend navigating them. If I download an article, spend two hours parsing the subtle linguistic nuances and then go to NYTimes.com, that’ll count as 5 seconds (luckily your server can’t see my computer – only REQUESTS from my computer). Only if I click on another link after perusing said article to find more pearls of wisdom will a longer time be recorded against my visit.
The joys of stateless computing systems being forced to do more than they were designed for. Remember, the web was just supposed to be a cool way to share research papers . . .
Best Wishes,
Peter
December 12th, 2006 at 7:23 am
I can always count on your blog for a good laugh. Yes, I’m here and reading. Scary to think about the footprints I leave as I stroll through the blogosphere, though. This post also makes me realize I haven’t gotten any new music lately. The last thing I downloaded was Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole.
December 12th, 2006 at 7:50 am
I’m logging in from NYC, and have to admit, I may add to those 5-second visits. I have you bookmarked, and I check in almost everyday to see if there is a new post. If there is not, sorry to say, I don’t re-read your previous entries…although I am sure they would be just as entertaining the second time around.
Best song I’ve heard in the last week “Last Christmas”. Oh wait…sorry, its just the song I’ve heard the MOST since thanksgiving….
December 12th, 2006 at 8:43 am
yeah, the whole blog seemed a bit messed lately. Very slow to load, I actually thought of telling you but thought you probably knew?
Strangely, that led me to find your page of travelogues, which led me to the Bario story. I love Sarawak, good story.
Nothing new but listening to Broken Social Scene’s, “Handjobs for the Holidays” right now. Unintentional but fitting, kinda.
December 12th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Checking in from Targoviste, Romania. I check your blog about every day too. If there’s nothing new, I check the next one on my list. Can you post a map of the places you’ve been (stayed in for more any significant amount of time)?
December 12th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Peter – Thanks for clarifying. It seems both the internet and I are being pushed beyond the performance capacities that were originally intended for us.
Conner – the slow loading issue was my web host (I think). I was just infomed yesterday that this should improve soon, if not already. The appearance, well, you can see I’m still struggling with that.
Jonny – Spooky. Just when you posted this comment I was editing LP material for Targovste! Oooeeeoooeee! You can see a list of where I’ve been on my travelogue: http://www.leifpettersen.com/#travelogue Though a lot of those Romania destinations were visited while I was on my whirlwind research trip. I think I spent less than 24 hours in Targoviste, though I walked up and down pretty much every street in the city center, checking all the hotels, restaurants, etc.
December 12th, 2006 at 9:48 am
I am logging in from the Philadelphia area. I read the article in the NY Times and have been addict ever since. I also check often to see if there is a new post. On a side note, yours is the only blog I read, so you should be honored ;)
Current music faves = the Killers, the Shins and Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos.
Good Luck!
December 12th, 2006 at 11:41 am
I am reading your blog from scenic New Jersey, two Turnpike exits past the stench. I discovered your blog a couple of months ago and I’ve been reading and lurking ever since.
I have your RSS feed bookmarked in Firefox. When I see you have a new journal entry, I just open the link in a new tab, read your latest, and close the tab. I probably count as one of your 5-second visitors.
As for music, I have no working MP3 player right now and other than NPR I’ve been listening to one of those local radio stations that has been playing all Christmas songs since Thanksgiving. Yes, I am slowly going mad.
December 12th, 2006 at 11:51 am
I came, I read, I laughed.
But I only show up when my RSS reader tells me there’s new stuff.
So I won’t show as a daily visitor, though you’re top of my list for entertaining reading. Even been proselytizing for you with online buds, telling them to come here and to overheardinnewyork.com for a laugh.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Hi, I am reading from wonderful minneapolis and I have you in my RSS, which tells me when you have a new post up. Only then do I come here.
Also, somehow your email got buried in my inbox and if you aren’t in the top 10 items I don’t remember that you exsist (sorry). I am going to try and spend some time cleaning up the format. Which I do know I said two weeks ago but I swear I mean it this time.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I too have your blog bookmarked in Firefox and check it just about every day. You’re one funny f**ker, Leif. Found you through Conor Grennan’s site, I think it was. He’s also a funny bastard, that Conor is. Have you ever met each other on your journeys? It seems to me you’d get along famously…Anyroad, keep on telling it like it is. I can use the chuckle-a-day from my cushy yet dull desk job position.
Music of the week: The Flaming Lips “At War With The Mystics”, Television “Television” and The Royal Tannenbaums Movie Soundtrack.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Nice to know we can all use creepy search engine features to stalk each other. :) My ‘my yahoo’ site uses some doohickey called an RSS feed (your tech people will know what that means) and a link to any new words of Leif wisdom instantly appear on my home page somewhere between, you might appreciate, the BBC and Fark.com.
Now you see exactly why there is little on this planet that sucks more than updating Sardinia in the winter. Don’t spend too much time visualizing this, but imagine being there the first week of February… actually, stop right now, because you’ll be in Umbria, visiting me! I’ve got my apartment set up in Perugia for Feb-Mar, and there’s an extra loft bed upstairs. Sure, it might be blizzardly cold and I’ll be updating like a madwoman, but at least it will be a city.
A presto!
December 12th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
leif is a comment whore!
December 12th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I too found your blog through Conor Grennan’s site. I have to admit, I check yours and his every day.
Hows living in Sardinia Going? (Becides the lack of people and spotty internet)
I’ve been listening to a lot of Sufjan Stevens (especially the michigan and songs for christmas albums) and lots of bad Holiday Music, though the bad holiday music is not my preferred music.
December 12th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Name: Lucas
Location: Los Angeles, baby
Last good song: Some song by Melissa Etheridge during the credits of An Inconvenient Truth
Why I didn’t email you about the comments not working despite thinking that I should a half dozen times: I’d have to drag the mouse allllll the way over to the email icon, double click, and type… and I’m a lazy man.
I too check the website daily, at least, and leave in under five seconds if there’s nothing new.
December 12th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
testes 1, 2, 3.. is this shit not working again
December 12th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
My name’s Adrian. I spank the monkey.
December 12th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I never noticed the RSS feed thingy before. I’ve now added it to my Google home page.
I’m checking in from Tucson, Arizona. I don’t think I’ve listened to any new music in the last week. I did watch Survivor though.
December 12th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Well, dang. Maybe we, your public, are afraid our comments will appear lame next to your polished prose.
Would you settle for a smaller number of people who think you really write a heck of a fine blog? And who would actually pay money for your book, if autographed?
Unsolicited advice: I think I’d get a bicycle.
December 12th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Ciao Leif,
Mi chiamo Cara (come la parola italiana, lo so, lo so…). Abito a Cambridge, MA. Mi piacerebbe moltissimo vistare a Sardegna; ho sentito che non li parlano Italiano ma Sardo – fammi sapere cosa hai sentito tu.
Also, if you’re ever in Cambridge, I offer you a spare bedroom, decent limoncello, and if you’re unattached & as funny as you write, smooching.
Also last time I was in Italy I tried to lose one particularly awful guide book for three different cities – the book wasn’t for 3 cities, that’s how long I was trying to lose it. People kept trotting after me like “hey, you forgot this….”
OK. Stay warm and read Richard Hugo’s “Good Luck in Cracked Italian” if you can get your hands on it.
Cara
December 12th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
yeah, i would probably buy an autographed book. with a coupon. i would need a coupon. but that would be cool.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Get to your blog from Google Reader and don’t navigate within the site so I would probably show up as a 5-second visit most of the time…
I’m reading from Wellington, New Zealand. Most interesting music I bought recently was Nino Rojo by Devendra Banhart.
Best of luck retaining your sanity.
December 12th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Name: Katie
Location: Minneapolis
Music: Gomez song “How We Operate”
Dude, if there’s no new blog entry I immediately move on to other things. I click over to your site to check for new content at least twice a day, but I’ve read everything on it (including the comments) already so I don’t linger if it’s the same old stuff. Criminal, I know….
December 12th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
hi!I got to you by way of HOW CONNER IS SPENDING HIS MONEY by way of SARA MORGAN TRAVEL SITE.
get over your great ass already!!
So now that your in your village how can you call yourself a travel writer? Whats up with that!!?
“I’m a travel writer who never leaves his house in an abandoned vacation village….yeah thats IT!”
December 12th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Yo leif, great blog. I enjoy it thoroughly.. I also have been known to listen to “dirty harry” by gorillaz on repeat for like 30-40 spins. love it.
December 12th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Leif, you know I’ve been checking out your blog again but thought I should comment as reassurance that I wasn’t just having you on.
Cara, he has a sexy tattoo. None of the other small details matter. Although, ok, if you are into *those* things, he really is a terrific and funny guy. (I think… it’s hard to remember because I was so overcome with intense sexual desire that my mind became temporarily unstuck. He’ll do that to you.)
Leif again, speaking of your hotness, I’d like to take this opportunity to pitch to you my latest idea: a Leif Pettersen fan club. We can show our devotion by sending our panties to you in the mail wherever you are in the world. And once a year we can make a pilgrimage to you and worship you. In a hot tub.
Yeah. You’re not a writer until you have your very own posse of swooning Girl Fans.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:21 am
Hey, Leif–
This is dave. I’m in, well, you know where I am, don’t you?…
I’ll give a shout out to that silly but catchy tune Crazy by Gnarly Barley or whoever. Is that a guy, a band, or a basketball player?
And also, check out Regina Spektor. Awesome voice, original sound. She’s got a page on myspace-dot-com.
Arrivederci!
December 13th, 2006 at 2:18 am
Wow! Look what I did! Evan’s right, I AM a comment whore! Whore, whore, whore… Whoa, if you say ‘whore’ repeatedly for a whole minute, it doesn’t sound like a word anymore. Neither does the word ‘word’ come to that. Uh oh, I feel another compulsive habit coming on…
OK, I got 27 comments in 20 hours. Consulting my stat counter, I can clearly see that many more of you stopped by and didn’t comment. What’re you afraid of the Comment Whore? Who’s afraid of the Comment Whore? You big chickens! Bwak, bwak!
All right, I forgive you all you non-commenters, like the person in Beijing (that you James? Aren’t you supposed to be on a beach in Thailand?); and the person in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and, gulp!, Roswell, New Mexico (Jar Jar?); and Wielkopolskie, Poland; and Auckland, New Zealand. I’m just happy with the knowledge that ¾ of you aren’t web-bots like I had been led to believe. Now I need to find something else to fixate on. The economy?
OK, let’s see here…
Georgia – Glad to hear that you’ve stuck with me for so long. Now that I think about it, it’s about time I tricked someone into giving me free press again. Ideas?
Bing, Phillip, Bertine, others – looks like I’m way behind on this RSS feed technothingie. I still click around checking sites like a sucker. Besides, I wanna give other webmasters complexes about why THEY have so many visitors for five second or less.
Karen/Shannon/Kirk – Ah Good ol’ Conor, him going to Nepal to do good deeds that I can only dream of has been the best thing to happen to my readership since the NYT thing. When he disappears for three week jungle treks to reunite orphans with their families, I get all his readers. I gotta send that man another check.
Alex – I like being in between the BBC and Fark – between news and goofball. How appropriate.
Lucas – You lazy jackhole. If you weren’t my best commenter, I’d release the spam-bots on your ass! By the way, when are you gonna start your blog? I have incentive for you. I’ll email you later.
Adrian – Always good to hear about your monkey.
Jeff – Please go over to Roswell, find the guy that didn’t comment and egg his space ship.
Anne Marie – I have a bike. It’s a good one too, but I’m too chicken to ride it into the city. I’m afraid it’ll get jacked while I’m in class. It has this flimsy little lock and I won’t be here long enough to invest in a good one.
Cara Rose (A.K.A “Molta Cara”) – Sister, when/if I get a book offer, I’ll make sure that Cambridge is on the tour route or no deal. And if you think my writing is funny, you should see the way I smooch. It’s hilarious.
India – when/if I get a book offer, I’ll make sure there’s coupons or no deal.
Perrin – Watch this space. I may be in your neighborhood in April.
Katie – try getting super drunk, you’ll be surprised about what you forget. Then you can read it all over again like it was the first time! I do that with my online bank statement. “Oh look! I got paid again!”
Newt – I’m on a big Gorillaz bender, have been for almost two months. I was only turned onto to them while I was in Minneapolis in October. They’re like a more upbeat Groove Armada.
Emma – I elect you as my Publicist for Life. You’ve got a good mind for drumming up hype and organizing groupies. And thanks for not mentioning my other tattoo…
DMN – Gnarles Barkley, yeah, I wondered the same thing. I didn’t think Charles could pull off that octave, but stranger things have happened. Next he’ll be designing wedding dresses.
Now I have to go set up an RSS whatsits. I love technology (the bits that I understand).
December 13th, 2006 at 6:12 am
I never leave comments, in none of the blogs that I read.
I read yours. A lot. Because it is one of the best out there. I forward you blog to my friends. A lot as well.
I am in London.
I have not listened to any music last week.
I often ‘read’ you site for 5 secs or less, because I need to check several times a day to see if you might have updated.
December 13th, 2006 at 6:36 am
Hey Leif,
I’ve been reading for a while now, and your writing has really really improved recently (although I still can’t forgive you for writing a piece about Berlin in your ‘don’t go’ series all those moons ago – man, I loved the week I spent there!).
Anyhoo, listen to the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy song “Cursed Sleep” off his new album “The Letting Go”. There’s a Virgin Megastore in Sardinia, right?
December 13th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Glad the comments are working. I am still an avid reader and was an avid commenter and had some pretty good ones that got lost in cyberspace somewhere. Glad everything is up and running again.
December 13th, 2006 at 10:13 am
I appear to be late to the Comment-Whore-comment-train.
I know that you usually post on Mondays, so I try to only stop by on Mondays, thereby decreasing the number of five-second hits that you get. I’m late this week, though, because my dog tried to bite my face off, and I couldn’t see out of my right eye, making reading a more complicated task than I cared to pursue.
Your original travelogue entertained me through many a boring law class, and I still love reading.
I’m logging in from Denver, by the way. (Colorado, not Texas)
December 13th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Maybe you should buy a motorcycle and get out a little.
December 13th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Well, I don’t have any useful comments, but if it will help our favorite comment whore I might as well say something.
December 13th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
location: L.A. (another Minneapolis person in exile)
found you: NYT
song of the week: the shins phantom limb
i’ve never ever left a blog comment, but then again, i’ve never ever read a blog that sounded so cold and lonely.
December 13th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Leif,
I simply adore your blog. I always look forward to your lastest remarks. Sorry that I never left any comments before, however, here is my first feedback. This particular posting was a “hoot,” especially the part about standing in the middle of the street with your laptop, and being easily viewed while “mother nature” calls! The mental image of your scenarios in mind is quite hilarious.
December 13th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
Hey Leif, this is from your fan club of commissioning eds at LP in Melbourne. (Membership: at least one.) I check your blog about 17 times a day to see whether you’ve posted anything new. Love your work.
December 13th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Can’t remember how I first came across your site, maybe via Stumbleupon? Got it bookmarked now so check every couple of days to see if you’ve updated (I just can’t get into the RSS thingamabob), if nothing new I’ll hit and run within 5 seconds……
If you’re offering I actually prefer Tea to Coffee but if pushed will have it strong, sweet and milky. Ta very much, choccie biscuit wouldn’t go amiss either.
I’m logging on from the comfort of my home, Barnaby, the house rabbit, lounging at my feet, mug of tea already in front of me (sans choccie biccy) and geographically located about 20 miles outside of London. Like someone else already mentioned I highly recommend anything by Sufjan Stevens, also not exactly new but loving a bit of Amadou & Mariam for background music at the mo, very jolly, has the rabbit seal of approval too. Seems to be his music of choice to hump to. Sure that was more information than you needed.
December 14th, 2006 at 10:28 am
hello from austin, tx! i’ve got your site bookmarked. i have, at different times, explored your blog for a crazy amount of time during downtime at work…shh, don’t tell. :)
a super fun cd that i’ve been listening to lately ‘Mix Tape,’ from LA band Los Abandoned.
December 14th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Hey Leif, I’m here and I’m always (well, often) laughing out loud at your quirky comments. I’ve always dreamt of being a travel writer, but am stuck at this hum-drum lawyer job in San Francisco paying off miserablel law school loans (though not as dreadful as Fed Reserve Bank position, I’d think), so do you mind if I live vicariously through you and your mishaps? (er, I mean, adventures). I’ll visit Roma in 2 weeks for New Year’s, but don’t think I’ll make it to your village-by-the-sea in view of your glorious description. Here’s to preserving the last drops of sanity, wherever we may be! ~ K.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Leif,
Love your blog sir, just have never left a comment. I’m a journalism student finishing up y degree and feel like I’ve learned a lot from you about writing, so thanks! If you’re looking for Christmas music, might I suggest a guy named Sufjan Stevens (you’ve probably heard of him). He’s come out with a new Christmas collection every year for the past five, and the best part is that you can listen to all of them for free, streaming over the Internet! Here’s the address:
http://www.asthmatickitty.com/suf_xmas/suf_xmas.php
Merry Christmas buddy.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
CARA ROSE!
BE careful, my dear, on your offers of smooching this blogger we all lust after!
He will take you up on the offer!
(and well, you might actually enjoy it as well)
December 14th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Better late than never….
I started reading your stuff ages ago when I joined Bootsnall.
I check your website a couple times a week but was late on this one because it’s the end of the semester and all my procrastinating has come home to roost and drive me insane with all its clucking.
I’m in Glasgow for the year (another child of Mpls abroad) and the best song I’ve listened to this week must be (in a very hard decision) El Scorcho by Weezer (but that’s not very new). I also second the mentions of Amadou and Miriam and Regina Spektor. Good stuff.
Keep us updated on the effects of Sardinian isolation…
December 14th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I’m another one who found you through NYT, but, alas, I don’t check daily … maybe once a week. I’m following along from Saint Paul, MN. And while I listen to the radio all day, I can never remember the names of songs or artists ….
December 14th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Hello from Cleveland…which quite frankly is worse than any place you’ve ever been….and I’ve been to about every place you’ve been— so I know.
Best song…is the best song title…” Call me when you’re sober” from Evanescence.
I enjoy your blogs…and I actually stick around to read more than the first sentence.
Cheers
S
December 14th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Hey there…
Just tried to send a note your way…was denied….I’m writing to you from Cleveland…as I mentioned in the last message…it’s worse than anyplace you’ve visited—and I’ve visited just about every place you’ve been.
“Call me when you’re sober” great song Evanescence…and an even better title.
Cheers
December 14th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
my name is Jessica and I’m surfing on in from the Cleveland, Ohio area. I’ve been reading your blog for the past few months, and I’m guilty of checking for new stuff and moving on in five seconds. but in my defense, I did spend a good amount of time reading your old entries when I should have been studying. best song I’ve heard in the last week: “Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs” by Oceansize.
December 15th, 2006 at 4:56 am
Wow! I think I’ve evolved past ‘comment whore’ and arrived at ‘comment orgy’! Orgy, orgy, orgy… Now THAT doesn’t sound like a word!
Thanks for all the additional comments. I feel all warm and fuzzy (or maybe that’s the grappa). And thanks for all the music suggestions. I’m afraid I haven’t heard of a bunch of these artists. I’m gonna have to collate a list, go to the free wifi in the city and start downloading.
KLO – We’re gonna be in Rome at the same time! I’m spending one night there during a layover on December 27th. I’m still waiting for the hostel to reply about my reservation. I’m staying right by Roma-Termini station. Let me know if you’ll be around.
Andrew – Thank you for the comment, and I love that a journalism student would refer to my blog for inspiration, but I feel it’s only fair to warn you that I am not a good source for ‘learning’ about anything having to do with writing, unless it pertains to the don’t-write-like-this-guy cautionary tales you get in grammar class. My whole career is based on desperate editors, nuclear reactor caliber prolificacy and exquisite timing. As I mentioned a few posts ago, a lot of people will forgive a lot of things if you’re funny enough and I’m working that angle for everything it’s worth! So I guess I do have one kernel of wisdom to impart; work your strengths!
Thanks again to all you commenters. I’ll try to make next week’s entry extra funny in return for your effort. It shouldn’t be too hard, the subject is about travel, Romania and drunken half-wits with giant fireworks; it practically funnifies itself!
December 15th, 2006 at 5:18 am
>> … but I feel it’s only fair to warn you that I am not a good source for ‘learning’ about anything having to do with writing, unless it pertains to the don’t-write-like-this-guy cautionary tales you get in grammar class
Puhleeezz!! I’d much rather read something informative _and_ entertaining than a boring yawn w/ good grammar.
December 15th, 2006 at 9:45 am
So blogging really can get you laid. Good for you, Leif.
This is Chris by the way, logging in from Antwerp (or Brussels when I’m bored at work like I am today). My favorite song of the week is Wolfmother – the joker and the thief…
December 15th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
I’ve been reading your blog since I saw the link in the NYT, I love your site, but have never left a reply. So now OK, here’s my reply.
I’m in Minnesota and trying really really hard to feel sorry for you spending the winter in Sardinia.
December 15th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
I read very few blogs, but I added you, yes, when I read the NYT article – I have added no comments, as I’ve added no comments to any blogs, but I have enjoyed your writing and click back all the time for updates (lots of times for less than five seconds cause there’s nothing new). I was wondering when there were no comments for so long, but I ASSUMED that you knew there was a problem, though I mused that it would terrible if you were in a location where you couldn’t monitor your technology situation and simply got no comments – as the days added up I waited for your explanation of the technical breakdown. I’m saddened to hear that in fact you thought that no one cared to comment. You should understand as comments continued not to pile up, there was an assumption (at least on my part) that the comments technology was down. It would never occur to me that your entire comment audience would abandon you.
Anyway, keep on keeping on…
the silent majority….
December 16th, 2006 at 2:43 am
Hi – I can’t believe I’m being bullied into the light.
Posting from Japan, listening to Bruce Cockburn’s “Tokyo”
December 16th, 2006 at 4:14 am
Hi, I’m typing from a dead guy’s apartment in a bleak suburb of Stockholm. Reading your blog had kept me (relatively) sane while surrounded by crazed family members all month. Thanks for that! But why *isn’t* there a streaming video of your butt on the top of teh page?
Song: A Pillar of Salt, by the Thermals, which you can hear on their myspace page (and watch the video!) — I will picture you listening to it in your socks while waving your laptop around in the street.
Cheers,
Becky
December 16th, 2006 at 4:50 am
Name: Sarah
From: Michigan
Song: Nothing really hit me as awesome this week
Anyway, I’d actually like to correct the part about web bots not counting in your analytics. It all depends on your analytics software. Some of the cheap/free ones actually do count web bots in their stats. Even the expensive packages have to be constantly tuned as to what is a web bot and what isn’t. New web bots pop up all the time, and to get truly accurate human stats, you have to constantly update your web bot filters. Most analytic programs will give you a place where you can see the browser info on the visitor… most polite bots will actually announce themselves (ex. googlebot)… those that don’t you can often tell from the referring url. Finally, try out Google Analytics as suggested. It is a pretty decent program and it is free. If nothing else, it will give you something to compare to your current stats.
December 16th, 2006 at 10:05 am
Hi there!
I’m reading from Chico, CA and I love your stories.
Best song I’ve heard this week…..got me…probably something old.The Chamber Brothers, “Time has Come Today”. Good music for house cleaning or yard work.
Keep writing!
December 17th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Hi Leif,
I check once a week or so and if there’s nothing new I leave within 5 seconds. What is this RSS thing? I have Firefox (though I’m on Safari now) and I want to get with the program!
I’m Hani from Airmont, New York (a suburb about 30 minutes northwest of NYC in the middle of the night when there’s no traffic). I found you from the New York Times article and have been checking for new posts ever since.
I’ve been listening to the Original Broadway Cast Album of Avenue Q – it’s culture (broadway) and yet still comedy. And Stephanie D’Abruzzo’s voice (especially in the song “There’s a Fine, Fine Line”) makes me melt. The comedy is in “The Internet is for Porn”, “Schadenfreude” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”. Oh yeah and of course, “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English” is a fave – since I have one. Do you? Actually, the whole album is hysterical, but I don’t want to list every single song!
I have no connection to the show other than I’ve seen it twice and I’m taking my 14 year old daughter and almost 13 year old son to see it in a few weeks. It IS culture! (we’re going with my Mom too!)
So, thanks for making me laugh out loud. I’ve posted comments a few times here and there, I’ve looked for your Romania & Moldova book in Barnes & Noble and have not found it. (and I have no plans to visit those countries any time soon – although my grandparents are from Oradea Maria – but it was Hungary back then)
I’m psyched to be a part of the comment ORGY section of this blog. It’s so hot!
Take care, enjoy. Best wishes!!
December 17th, 2006 at 3:39 am
P.S. What happened to the “type in these letters and numbers so we know you’re human” section? Just wondering.
December 17th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
One more thing, where did the flags representing our posting countries go?
Oh yeah and … Yul just won Survivor Cook Islands.
December 18th, 2006 at 3:06 am
Newt – You’re my new self-esteem coach. Coordinate with Emma for some time in between the hot tub groupie parties.
Chris – Blogging hasn’t gotten me laid yet, but it’s gotten me smooched. That’s a start, eh?
Sioux – I may have overstated the anxiety I suffered during the no-comment period. I embellish things once in a while, strictly for the furtherment of the funny. I also didn’t walk around the house naked but for my socks with all the doors and windows open. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t wear any socks. So, don’t worry about me. I’ve got a healthy ego and a healthier supply of Sardinian wine.
Becky – You show me how to do streaming video and I’ll show you my behind.
Sarah, – thanks for the additional information. So little is cut and dried in webmastering. It’s like fixing an old Dacia; you can’t just buy a part and slap it on. Every one is just a little different and needs customizing.
Hani – No, I do not have a B.A. in English. If I did, the guy who gave me the degree would have been stripped of his credentials and possibly shot. Actually, I have a B.A. in Theatre Arts. Probably not a surprise, eh? The Romania and Moldova book will not be in stores until May (or June). Yeah, the waiting is killing me too. I don’t know what happened to those comments extras. I think they may have been removed by the fixing. See my comment above about breaking two things for every one that gets fixed. Even when I’m not doing the work myself, the curse asserts itself.
Whoa, I owe you guys a blog post today. Better get to that.
December 18th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Hi, Leif. I’m writing from Colorado & clearly I don’t stop in here every day or I would’ve left this comment earlier. But I stop in every once in a while & get caught up on all the posts I haven’t read yet…and I sit in my cubicle at work reading & laughing out loud. Which means that I need to forward your link to everyone sitting within the sound of my voice so they won’t think I’ve finally lost my mind.
currently on the iPod: Grace by Me’shell Ndegeocello
December 18th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Hi, I emailed you once sometime in 2005 saying I was a fan and suggested some tips for Cologne and then decided to lay low and not freak you out. I am writing from Berlin the city you love to hate and I’ve been reading your blog and progress as a travel writer ever since. Recently, I’ve been listening to Paolo Nutini.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
i’m reading you from Los Angeles and i briefly dated you in high school. was planning to lurk unremarked, but what the hell. I read about you in the ny times and i thought, “there is exactly one Leif Pettersen in the world, so that must be him.”
i like your blog. i’m a writer too but have the opposite problem … taciturnity. i enjoy your compulsion to spill all.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:02 am
Kari – I used to be you. But when I laughed out loud in my cube, people usually assumed I was just descending another step into Fed-induced madness.
Johanna Lee – I remember that email. It actually came in very handy and I don’t think I ever thanked you. Danke!
Sonya – Good to hear from you. It appears not one, but two tigers with smokin’ bodies has infiltrated the writing world. Shall I alert the Alumni Newsletter people? And I’m sorry to inform you that there are two Leif Pettersens. The other was a famous Canadian football player, who now does commentary. He’s ruined my search engine monopoly on the name. I plan to squeeze him out with shameless self-promotion.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Leif, somehow I missed this diatribe last week!!! haha. Anyways, I’ve been following you since the NYT article. I’m here in Frankfurt, Germany, although your report will say Washington, DC since I take it in the behind from The Man. As another avid, although not always wanted, traveler, I enjoy your musings.
Enjoy the fireworks show, NYE in Europe is definitely the way to go!
December 20th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Hi Leif! I found you through ‘Bootsnall’, read all your stuff there and moved on to the blog. Seriously, I wouldn’t have survived my desk many a’ day if not for you. So, thanks!
December 21st, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Arriving a bit late, but here I am. I’ve been reading your blog on and off for the last several months (though less lately, for no other reason than “life gets in the way”). I think I found your blog through NYT or maybe Bootsnall.
Living in Denver, where we’ve gotten 33 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. Luckily, it being Denver, it will melt soon.
I have this strange genetic condition; if anyone asks me what books I’ve read lately, or music I’ve listened to, all knowledge or memory on either subject just plain quits. So I can’t remember anything.
This will tell you my (approximate) age, but I used you as an example to my 11-year-old son recently. In the writing department, he’s currently in the “write it as fast as possible” school. Revision is not a worthwhile part of his life, despite my encouragement to the contrary. I quoted to him from your blog entry on writing, and how many times you revise your writing. I’m sure that, way deep down, he took the comments to heart, and he will thank me some day. In the meantime, keep on writing!
December 22nd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
hej leif
greetings from minneapolis!
it seems like you get so much information from your visitor tracker data that you ought to be able to generate a list of who is visiting along with our social security numbers, medical information, etc. scary.
this was a very funny blog. i enjoyed it.
i’m listening a lot to martha wainwright’s bloody mother fucking asshole cd.
December 24th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Hi!
Nice info, big thx.
December 25th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Hi Leif
Not writing anything clever, just checking out your blog. I heard my favourite song of the week today… an oldie but goodie.. Hallelujah (no Im not religious), unfortunately performed on my Fathers CD player in down town Singleton, Hunter Valley, Australia, by none other than Australian Idol winner Damien Leith (Id much prefer Jeff Buckley).
Liking Basement Jaxx catchy little tune “Take me back to your house your house” but a little pissed all the tickets sold out to the New Years party at Bondi this year. Oh well.
Rambling again, but this time with champagne in hand (I’ve run out of scotch) … the celebration?? Umm.. Santa has left the building… perhaps. Never liked him anyway, isn’t it obvious red suits and rosey cheeks clash?
wendy k
January 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Mm, so yea, I guess I’m uber-late but I read this, too, from Brooklyn. Apparently, I forgot about it for a bit and so missed the bulk of the comment-orgy. I read your and other travel blogs because right now I’m too poor to travel and have to finish up with that pesky school thing but it’s nice to be all nostalgic about when I was traveling. Right now, I’m listening to Joni Mitchell (old school, I know) but I tend to listen to my iPod on random so there’s nothing specific that I’m listening to right now.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:29 am
Leif,
I started reading your blog well over a year ago when I was looking at info. about traveling in Italy. I had a friend going with me and I didn’t show her your commentary on Naples until afterwards…
Anyway, I have had your RSS feed subscribed to for quite some time. But bizarrely nothing new had appeared since November of 2006. I started thinking today that seemed weird and checked it out… sure enough, new stuff to read! Yayy! Still puzzled what caused it. I unsubscribed and then re-subscribed to the same link and all the new showed up..
It’s the boiling water thing again isn’t it…
Keep up the great writing!
Mark
July 13th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
You know that thing about sense of humour.
If you ain’t got it then you won’t get it.
Keep it up…
July 29th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I don’t know if it’s bad form to comment on very old posts, but I’m doing it anyway. I’m in Minneapolis, found this blog through your Minneapolis blog, and am slowly making my way through your archives – I love to travel vicariously through others, and your writing is superb to boot. The best (though not new) song I’ve listened to this week is Mosquitoes and Cars by Kris Demeanor:
http://www.imeem.com/wingedfroggie/music/Qx3xF57u/mosquitos_and_cars