There you go. Tick tock, 2006 is running out.

I have had a quiet day. Well, quiet isn’t exactly the right word what with the constant explosions everywhere. But we don’t really have any traditions for the day in my family, so I have been taking it easy. The only tradition we have is the toasting at midnight, followed by kransekage. I’m not sure what that’s called in English. But we have it every year. When I was a kid we used to go out and shoot off the fireworks. But I stopped that after that incident when I celebrated new years in the hospital. And my parents have stopped doing it too. I’m not sure if my brother still does the fireworks thing, but I doubt it.

Incidentally, I should perhaps admit that before the incident I did in fact run around like a hooligan and throw bombs everywhere. So it’s not like I don’t understand that kids want to run around and blow up stuff. I was never a huge fireworks fan, but yes I did throw some firecrackers around. Never at animals or the elderly though.

But anyway. I have been taking it easy. Sleeping and dreaming surrealistic dreams. And I went up to the animals when it started getting dark. Just to check that everything was okay. And to wish them a happy new year. And give them some treats. Everything was fine, much to my relief. Hope it will stay that way. Then I went up to the house and let Nina out of the bath room. Let her walk around for a while. And then I picked her up and sat down in the couch. Held her in my arms and watched the fireworks with her. She flinched and looked away a couple of times, at the biggest explosions. But other than that she seemed to be okay. Calm and cuddly. I wish I could have stayed with her, instead of having to lock her up again. Or I wish I could have taken her home and let her spend new years at my house. We don’t have any kitty supplies though. And it wouldn’t be a good idea to do it without talking to the playground peoples anyway. I should have thought of it earlier. But it’s only for a day, so it’s not the end of the world.

So that’s about it for the year. I’m spending the last couple of hours at the computer and then I’ll toast the new year with the family and have some cake and stay up as late as I can (that’s almost a tradition as well) and then it’s time for 2007.

So how was 2006 for Plume? It was a lot of up and down. My mood swing-swang-swung all over the place. There were times when all I could think about was ways to kill myself. And then there were times when I was, dare I say it, almost happy. Luckily the year has ended on a good note. With good experiences and less depression. A good christmas, a good farewell at Kulturgyngen, a good christmas party at the playgrund, a good Tina Dickow concert, great christmas cards from all over the world. I hope I can carry that positivity with me into the new year.

People and animals came and went. I lost someone I thought was a good online-friend. But I gained others that are very wonderful and make me happy. I had to say goodbye to a very special lady, Mathilde. There were the six kids. That was amazing, they made me so happy. Funny, cute and wonderful they were. And I had to say goodbye to all but Vanilje. I had to say goodbye to Yvonne. I had to say goodbye to Kulle, the prettiest lamb I have ever seen. I had to say goodbye to Fine and Flotte, the silliest lambs I have ever known. Woolrik and Little Tiger. Moomincat who I thought might have come back, but is still off somewhere on adventures. It’s hard to say goodbye, but they all made my year, and my life, so much better. If there are two things that really make me happy then it is the animals and the blog contacts.

Yes, that means you guys.

Also, I think Don Rosa visited my blog! I know he does internet searches for his own name. And I see in my sitemeter someone coming from iglou.com. From Kentucky. With search terms “Don Rosa”. So it must be him. Hi Don! Happy new year. I love your work. Do you have a spare Danish copy of Don Rosa Hall of Fame #2?

Anyway. None of you guys probably know who Don Rosa is since Donald Duck comics are apparently non existant outside of Europe. Or so I gather. I grew up on weekly Donald comics and Don Rosa was and is my favourite Donaldist. But I won’t bore you with that now. Let’s look forward to 2007.

I have never made resolutions myself. And I’m not going to start this year. But I will set some goals and intents, pretty much the same thing only with a name that signals less pressure for me.

So my first goal for 2007 is to move out on my own. I had the same goal for this year. Good thing it wasn’t a resolution, eh! But seriously, it really is about time and I really need to get it done. It will be scary but it will also be a big and important step forwards for me. Hopefully they can help me a bit at TMU when I start there. That’s another one of my goals, to make the most of my stay at Tilværelse Med Udsigt and help them to help me to find my way forward. To live on my own and have a steady job of some sort, that’s a big priority.

Another goal is to try to cut back on the sodas. The cola specifically. Again. I have tried before and done okay, but I always fall back. I am addicted to the bubbles. But I will try to cut back. And generally to eat healthier. Get in better shape. I’d like to join a fitness club of some sort. Failing that, then get some kind of equipment at home. Feel the burn.

Yet another goal is to try and make the animals as happy as they make me. Spend lots of time with them, bring them treats, take good care of them. And this extends to the playground. One of the great things of 2006 was being hired as weekend feeder, and for 2007 I want to do as much as I can to help them out. Like my pictures on their walls now, things that will make the people there happy. Help the kids get to know the animals. Let them see that Mads isn’t dangerous. Not that dangerous at least. I want to do what I can for that place. It’s an important place for the community and I love being a part of it.

I want to find some good charities and donate some money to them. Because I am sitting on a lot of cash. Sure, I will hopefully need it as I start making a life for myself and move out and everything. But I have enough to share. And it’s no good just sitting on your bum and complaining about how the world stinks, if you don’t actually try to do something about it. So donate a little money and try to be aware of treating the world right. Be ecologically aware.

I will pick up some things from you guyses lists too. For one thing, I will be kind to squirrels since everyone else seems to be after them!

I will try to read more. I won’t make it to a 100 books, but I will put more energy into the “Plume starts reading books again” campaign that I started this year. I am currently reading It Crawled From The South, a big R.E.M. bumper.

Giving compliments is a really good idea. Especially since I have felt it on myself how much a little kindness can mean. It makes me happy when I do little good things for others and it makes me happy when they do good things for me. Even just saying “thank you” or something like that. The other day I was standing in line in the supermarket. The girl at the counter was obviously new at her job and things were going a bit slowly. And the person in front of me in the queue got annoyed and was acting a bit mean, like “oh why do I have to waste my time with this”. And sure, I would like the queue to move as fast as possible too. But think about the poor girl who is doing the best she can. How does it help things to be mean to her? Think about your own first day at various jobs, did you do everything perfectly from the get-go? Probably not. So when it was my turn to be served, there was a more experienced girl standing behind the girl at the counter to help her out with things and she apologized to me because it was taking a bit longer than it should. And I made sure to smile and say that it was okay etc. That made me happier, that made the new girl happier. It made everything better. So long story short: be kind to others. Sometimes I let my social phobia stop me from making little gestures, saying little nice things to strangers and so on. A goal for the new year is to not let my phobia do that. And obviously to generally work to overcome the phobia and shyness, that’s a given goal for me. Has been for a long time.

Be more open with my parents. It has helped a lot that I have told them about my phobia. I should like to continue that trend and be open about what is happening to me. When my uncle stayed over for christmas, my mother was asking if it was okay and such. She knew that inviting someone to stay at our house would make it a little more difficult for me. It’s not like she let the decision be up to me, but just that she understood, that helped me. In the past there have been times when suddenly a bunch of relatives would show up at our house without warning and when I’d retire to my room to avoid the socialness then she’d come and knock on my door and tell me to come and say hello and join the fun and so on. It’s just much easier when the people around you know what you’re going through. Then they can help you instead of be disappointed in you.

Try to be good to my brother. I don’t know if we will ever be really close, but at least have a decent relationship with him. It was nice this year, when he got his laptop and had to hook it up to the intarweb and I was able to help him with all that stuff. I would like to be a brother that he can come to for help with things instead of being a nuisance.

Get a cat, or two. But that goes with moving out. Move to a place where cats are allowed, and get cats.

Well, that’s all I can think of right now. Good thing I don’t have any resolutions!

I hope you will all have a safe night and day and next year. And I hope you’ll come back in 2007 and keep me company and help me along towards normal life, whatever that might be.

Thank you, and happy new year!

My oh my, where did the time fly? 2006 is almost over. Can you believe it?

If you can’t then I encourage you to go look at a calendar. Cause it’s true. 2007 is standing just outside the door, tapping its little feet, waiting to be let inside.

Thank you for the comments about resolutions for the new year. If anyone else have any to add, please feel free. It’s actually quite inspirational. I have never made resolutions myself. But maybe this is the year. I’ll come up with some thoughts at least. Tomorrow, in my End Of The Year speech to the nation. If the queen and the prime minister can do it, then so can I.

Today I will do some playgrounding. And by that I don’t mean make up a game where I go around and tell kids that they are grounded. No, I mean pictures and anecdotes, plumestyle. Aight.

First of all, a moment I had yesterday. A beautiful moment. I was sitting on the ground (because the bench is for human peoples), leaning up against the fence. And then Musse came up to the fence and I scratched her a little on the nose. And looked into her eyes. They have such beautiful eyes, the horses. And I sat there and looked in her eyes and saw my own reflection in them. Sweet. I wish I could get a picture of that.

Can you see me in there? Or at least my camera’s eye.

And just so Sille doesn’t feel left out, here is a picture of her:

If you look at the fence there, where she is standing, you can see that the top bars have fallen down. It’s been like that for a while. And for some reason the goats haven’t taken the opportunity to escape. Until yesterday. It was partly my fault. Not only did I climb out there, thus giving them the idea, I also had the audacity to want to go and sit down with Kridte and Firs.

I sat down on a rock there. And then a minute later suddenly Mads and Magnethe came walking by, as if it nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. Hehe. It was about time for their feeding anyway, so I helped get them back inside. It was cute though, how they just came strolling along as if they hadn’t just escaped from their pen.

The conspirators. Nice to see them standing next to each other without anyone being chased off. Yes, I’m looking at you Mads…

One of my favourite parts of Mads to scratch is his chin. Actually it’s so high up on his chin that it’s almost his lips. Then sometimes when I scratch him like that his lips will pull down and his teeth will show and he’s just standing there enjoying it with what looks like a huuuge toothy smile on his face.

And also, you know…

..Magnethe in a bucket. That never, ever gets old. She hadn’t even finished eating, there’s still food in that bucket. But she still just stepped into it and looked at me like “yup, I’m standing in a bucket again. Don’t you love me?”. And I do.

(interlude: I am in a comic mood. I am looking for Don Rosa’s 2nd Hall of Fame book. I need Don Rosa comics. Also, I want some kind of complete Calvin & Hobbes collection. Plus some Mutts. And don’t even get me started on the old Marvel Star Wars mags. I think I should become a comicbook nerd. I need to diversify my nerdiness. If there are any Danish peoples out there willing to sell me a copy of Don Rosa vol 2 then please get in touch.)

Okay, back to the playground. I was on duty today. To feed the animals. With special instructions about Nina. They want her to stay inside this weekend. Because of this strange human tradition where we celebrate that our planet is a year older by blowing up pieces of it (yes I stole that joke from the Simpsons). With all the fireworks and gangs of marauding teenagers they figure it’s better not to let her run around outside. So instead of having her run up to the door when I arrived I had to lock her out of the master bath room. They couldn’t let her run free inside the house because she would set the alarm off.

The first thing she did when I let her out was run straight to the door.

Aw. You could tell she wanted to go out. Even if it was raining and very windy.

It was even worse when I had to put her back inside the bath room.

How can you get yourself to disturb a cat that is so comfy? I did give her lots and lots of cuddles though. And the master bath room is big and she had her basket and toys and stuff. So that is still better than being blown up by gangs of evil nazi homophobic animal-hating teenagers. Yeah, those darn teenagers, you can’t trust ’em.

You know what I really don’t get? The fireworks. The ones that go “BANG” and nothing else. What is the point of those? For days all I hear is BANG BANG BANG BANG. Now, I can understand celebrating the new year with fireworks. Beautiful fireworks that explode in the sky in millions of colours and everybody goes OOOOOH and AAAAAH. That’s not so bad. But those damn firecrackers that just explode in a little flash and a loud bang? Outlaw the damn things. That’s not fireworks. That’s just explosives for people who can’t get their hands on real dynamite. And they sell in packages with 100 of them for 5 bucks. And 97,33% of them are sold to teenagers who go around and terrorize animals and the elderly. It’s got nothing to do with fireworks.

Still much debate in Denmark. Illegal fireworks and people with huge stashes of explosives in residential areas and so on and so forth. Fireworks are the devil’s work, and nobody realizes it until they have blown one of their own fingers off. Or spent new year’s eve in the hospital. Not that I am bitter about that. Anyway, nuff ranting. On a much brighter note, guess what I saw hanging on the wall inside the playground house?

Pictures. On the wall. MY PICTURES. On the wall. Yay! They’re finally up. Several big and small frames hanging round on the walls.

Not all of them put up yet. But they’re there. How very sweet. I hope people will like them. I met Bodil on my way home (I run into her a lot, eh?) and she said that she had seen them. And that it was about time they had been put up. Hehe. It’s several months ago that she told me to “push it” a little and make them get it done. But it has been worth the wait. And Bodil complimented them and told me they were good. Sweet. She was happy that it was raining, almost storming. Because that meant she could take Lulu for a walk without all the fireworks and crackers. She will be spending new years in her bath room with running water and music to soothe her dog. Sweet of her. I almost feel like spending the eve up with the goats, to make sure they’re okay. They don’t seem to be scared of the fireworks so far, but of course it will get really loud and busy when midnight approaches. I hope they will get through it all okay. And that the playground will escape unharmed from the fireworks. All that wood and straw and stuff, I don’t even want to think about what a stray rocket could do. Would it be awfully selfish of me if I asked the world to skip the celebrations and let the animals have peace? It’s a little late to start a petition to cancel new years I guess.

But there you go. Uh oh, it’s 23:57. I have to post this before it turns into 31/12. Hope you will all have a happy and safe tomorrow. Remember, my birthday is March 15th, so if you want to buy me the Complete Calvin & Hobbes then you should start saving now. I’m just saying is all.

Happy new year, tomorrow!