Limits of the Rational Actor Model

Everyone seems to be going to Kiruna, and this seems the height of human folly to me. They seem quite excited, and tell me breathless stories about dogsledding, jumping into icy ponds, and going to bars made entirely of ice. They suggest that this will be "fun,"--a suggestion which leads me to believe I need to drastically rethink my understanding of that word.

You see, the place where I live looks like this:




It's cold here. It's dark. The world is covered in six inches of brown sludge. There are bicycles frozen into the river. All we're missing is the three-headed, weeping , six-winged spectacle of Lucifer himself waist-deep in eternal ice, chewing unceasingly on the bodies of traitors and we will have successfully recreated Cocytus, only with universal healthcare and a strict neutrality policy. Now, tell me. Do you look at those pictures and think, "Man, you know what would be great? Going somewhere even more cold and dark."
Kiruna sounds like the kind of place I would pay to keep away from, and I tend to think of Peter O'Toole's explanation that "my idea of heaven is moving from one warm, comfortable, smoke-filled room to another." I don't care if sitting in a sauna then jumping in an icy lake feels good. You know what else feels good? Not being way too hot or way too cold. Imagine that!
The point of this is that my corridor is having our second party on Friday (I'm already setting up alibis) and damn near half the people I know can't make it because they'll be up past the Arctic Circle, merrily dogsledding.
Twits.

Sanna abruptly gave me the old I-think-we-should-just-be-friends on Monday, which I will freely admit is rather annoying, but mostly because I now have to start pretending to find dull people interesting again. I guess.

Other Surprising Events This Week
Ashley-of-the-tattooed-ass is gay.
Her girlfriend speaks Mandarin and German and insists the former is easier than the latter.
I learned Sweden had no official separation of church and state until 2000.

My next trip is probably going to be Helsinki in two weeks, which means I am going to have to sacrifice my principles and commit the heinous crime of actually buying liquor in Sweden. And that sad fact inspired me to think of

Things Which Are Cheaper Than a Bottle of Whiskey in Sweden
A year of cable television
Having all four wisdom teeth removed
An abortion
Five months of bus pass
A year's fees to the student nations
Twelve hamburgers
Three round-trip ferry excursions to Latvia, Estonia, or Finland
Thirty-six beers

I had some really great jokes, including something really brilliant and elaborate about the rational actor model in IR theory, and I've totally forgotten them. Maybe next time? Eh.