Closure

It is August 22nd 2024. Yet another Thursday, after a month of travelling in July 2024: Thailand and The Philippines.

There was a certain sense of closure as me and my son travelled home from Bangkok, on the 11 hour flight on Sunday July 28th.

Closure of what?

Well. This was the first time I travelled with my son – alone – to The Philippines. Met his grandparents and his aunt who live on the tropical island of Bohol.

The last time my son (Henrik) saw them was in July 2019; the year before my split from his mother, my ex-wife.

What happens in 5 years? Well, he grew from being 8 years old to being 13 years old. That is a big thing. Another thing is that…

I knew that it was very important for _ME_ that Henrik could meet them again. I know that his mother Wants to take him to Bohol, to meet them. I know that she cares. But she has not been able to do it.

So I did it this year. This summer. And he loved it.

Thailand – it was my first time visiting that country. I have earlier had Hong Kong as my asian hq so to speak. And after that it was Bohol. But now I think Bangkok is such an asian HQ. If that makes sense.

I don’t feel that it is correct for me to focus on Bohol anymore. The feeling that it is an island “belonging” to my ex-wife and her family. So, I choose Bangkok as my new go-to place in asia.

I also have Tanzania as an outside-Norway place. In March, I got married to Bayana, who is from Dar es Salaam. Well, she lives there. She is from Mbeya, in western Tanzania, close to the border to Zambia. But yeah. She will come to Norway to live with me sometime next year. 2025. Live with me here in Norway. Be a part of my life here. I am looking forward to That Process.

I still have a very very soft spot for Asia. I visited Hong Kong for the first time in January 2000. Almost 25 years ago now, when I write this on August 22nd 2024.

But Hong Kong is now = China in my book. The crack-down on democracy in Hong Kong is quite stated, clear.

Later, The Philippines became my asian HQ. Bohol…. I absolutely love that little island.

Now: Thailand.

Bangkok.

Closure.

I want to write more here on dltq.org. I will see what I do the next weeks or months or years.

My reading

In January 2020, I became one of the founders of a small Facebook group here in Norway, for people who have a certain reading goal for the year. The idea came from one of my friends from my uni years, AK, and I joined in the project.

It has now been 4 years going, 2020-2023, and it is in it’s 5th year. It is a rather simple group. Every member has a thread for the year – a reading thread – and in the original post on that thread you write your reading goal. I for instance have the goal of reading 50 books per year. And then I comment on the entry for every new book. My structure in the comments is for instance this (translated to English):

Book 4. Finished January 10th. Dice roll: 6

Geert Mak: “The Many Lives of Jan Six: A Portrait of an Amsterdam Dynasty” (Amazon)
Norwegian version, audiobook.

This was my first Geert Mak book, and it really gave me a taste to read more by that author. This book gave a really good insight into Amsterdam history over 4 centuries, and the dynasty of the Six family over the years.
A well written book, translated into Norwegian in a manner which did not annoy me, and I liked the voice of the narrator

I really did finish this audio book yesterday, January 10th, and I am now working my way through book 5 for 2024.

We know that gamification works, and my mind is pretty well matched to things like this – having a goal, and then working towards that goal, during the days, the weeks, the months. So, for 2024, my goal is once again to have read 50 books before the end of the year.

I have a semi-updated spreadsheet with the overview of the books I have read in these years since 2020, and my goal is to update that more often.

Earlier in my life, I still read – but I did not methodically update a list of what I read, when I finished it, and give a review of what I had read. My estimate is that during my 20s and 30s I read on average 25 books a year. That is now doubled – I have managed to achieve my reading goal for all the years since 2020 except 2022 – and I aim to keep it at that level for the coming years.

Reading really just takes up more of my time these last years, and I like it a lot. I watch hardly any linear TV at all, and I rarely follow new series on streaming series. I go to the cinema quite a lot, though, and that is an activity that I prioritize.


It is January 11th. The new year is hardly so new anymore. But I find myself thinking about DLTQ.org a bit more often, and tonight, on this Thursday night, I write again.

In December of last year, I did write about “Questions for 2024”, and I did not follow up that blog entry. I will do that now.

I guess my context needs to be updated here. After the sudden separation and later divorce from my wife in 2020 (we had been married since 2010 and been a couple since 2008), I did quite a lot of soul searching; seeking my own path, and made some changes. In January 2022, I left the IT industry, where I had been working since 2009, and I started working as a project manager in a big organization here in Norway. In January 2021, I made the decision to cut off contact with my mother. First the decision was for half a year, and after that half-year it became a permanent decision. I will not go too much into details here, and I am not a victim, but my mother was a fiend, and she did a lot to destroy her children. In November 2023, after my step-father K. died, I also got rid of my mother’s surname, Monsen, and replaced it with my father’s surname – Pettersen – as my new middle name. So I went from Raymond Monsen Kristiansen to Raymond Pettersen Kristiansen in November 2023. I am still transitioning into getting used to this new name; I have had that former name since I was 16 years old, in 1994.

My son, born in 2010, is now 13 years old, and he lives with me during the weekdays/schooldays and with his mother in the weekends. I have a good relationship with my ex-wife, and we have a decent collaboration about his upbringing.

I still work as project manager in that organization, and I will most likely stay there. When the weather is nice, I can walk from our apartment at home to the office in 23 minutes, which is a nice walk through this part of Oslo, the capital of Norway – where I have lived since 2009.

A lot has happened since 2000, when I was 21 years old and started blogging on LiveJournal. Or later started videoblogging in late 2004, or did other social media things. I have grown less interested in broadcasting my life to the world. I have also gained a slightly more introverted personality; I am not so eager to attend gathering and meetings as I was earlier, even though I do for instance at work organize conferences, seminars, workshops etc.

I live in the Briskeby area of Oslo, which is situated in the middle between the Royal Gardens and the Vigeland park – two great parks which are good to walk through during most of the year. I can walk to either park in about 8 minutes. I have lived in this area since Februar 2021; almost 3 years now. I aim to live in this part of Oslo until my son is finished with 10th grade at the school (he attends Uranienborg school, where he is now at 7th grade). After 10th grade, I will most likely move to another part of Oslo which is less expensive – Briskeby is quite an exclusive part of Oslo.

So. Yes. Reading. I read a lot, and I enjoy it so much. I have also started enjoying travelling more, and my two trips to Tanzania in 2023 (for a month in July, and 1 week in December for Christmas/New Year) were great. I have also become active in Engineers Without Borders here in Norway, and I will start getting more involved in different projects, most of them on the African continent.

I may write more here on DLTQ soon. I… actually hope so. That I will get into the habit of this again. The self-reflective praxis is good for me, and is different than from my different physical or app diaries.

Tuning in / tuning out

It is the first week of 2024. A new year of reading, for me, but also – perhaps – a new year of writing. Writing blog entries here on DLTQ.org.

DLTQ – Don’t Lose the Question – has been around as my name for my online writing since 2002, when I was active at TIG in my spare time while living and working in Brussels, and later my wordpress blog at dltq.org since 2005 (Wayback machine).

It is now 24 years since I first blogged, on LiveJournal, which had then recently released. It was early 2000. I had just taken my first inter-continental trip – I visited Hong Kong for three weeks in January 2000 to visit my then gf. I was 21 years old, turning 22 in march, and I was eager to read, learn, connect, get involved. Tune in, so to speak.

Between 2000 and 2009, I wrote a lot of blog entries, and I also created a lot of videos during my years of vlog exploration (2004-2009). But in July 2009, my shift changed, and I started writing less.

I am quite binary in my engagement in things. I either tune in, or I tune out. I have been involved in many arenas over the years, and seen a lot of processes.

2023 became a year where I decided to visit the African continent for the first time, and I decided to go for Tanzania in east Africa. I went there in July 2023 for a month, and for a week in December 2023. This is connected both to a personal interest in understanding the African countries more (it will take a lot of time), as well as being a being more effective in my work as a volunteer at EWB Norway.

Ever since my voluntary work at Canal Africa, a local TV station for the African community in Copenhagen in Denmark in 2007-2009, I have had Africa somewhere in my consciousness. But it took some more years before I finally went in 2023.

It is now 2024. I work at an organization for engineers and technologists here in Norway. I am active in EWB. My son is now 13 years old. I live in central Oslo where my son stays with me during the weekdays and with his mother in the weekends.

Since 2020, I have had the goal of reading 50 books per year, and so far I have managed to do that 3 out of 4 years. I really have a tendency to read more and spend less time scrolling the social media.

There isn’t a central theme in this blog entry. I just basically wish to update a bit, and to hopefully get back into the habit of writing here. Even though I am much less interested in the whole publishing for the open internet than I was earlier. I guess I have changed since 2005.

Wishing you all a great 2024!

(Process video; 19min)