I know what you’re all thinking. “Oh Plume has forgotten all about the goats, he only cares about lambs now”.

But you’re wrong. And to prove it, here is Magnethe eating an apple:

(looks like she’s smiling smugly on this one hee)

A job well done, licking her lips satisfied.

I know, I’ve done it before. But she’s just such a cutie. I love her poses.

And not forgetting the two others.

Vanilje is starting to come into her own. When Springbok and 3B left she was often sitting alone in the corner. Magnethe was bullying her a little too. Now Vanilje seems much more a part of the community. Goat community. She’s still at the bottom of the pecking order of course. But she’s part of the group and doing well. And she is now officially the owner of the cutest baah at the playground. It’s just priceless when it cracks and goes into overdrive.

The strike is still going on. Nothing new to report on that front.

I had a rude awakening yesterday. My glasses broke. The frame. That sidebar thingie, what do you call it? The one that goes over your ear. Anyway, the right one broke off when I put my glasses on in the morning. So I had to stop by the optician. I have to have the frame replaced, unfortunately they didn’t have any in the store. But they put a little plastic thing on to hold the frame together, and then in a couple of weeks they’ll have a new frame and I’ll come back and get it done. So there. No biggie. I just don’t like when I get thrown into social situations like that without warning. Having to go to the optician. Standing around for 5-10 minutes and waiting. Without glasses on, the world one big blur. Not my idea of fun.

Later on there was more socializing. At work. It was Anders’s last day. And furthermore it was his birthday. So we all sat down together. Had gullasch. Presented him with a present. Everyone gets a present when they stop at Gyngen. Odd to think that in a couple of months it will be my turn. I wonder what they’ll get me? Probably something to do with animals. Sanne knows how much I love animals. Goats and sheeps. Although maybe they’ll get me a book. They got me that Poe collection when I was out for surgery. Maybe a book about animals? I’ll see. It’ll be hard to be the center of attention on that day though. But okay, I get a present so it’ll be worth it.

Anders, by the way, is a great guy. I haven’t updated my cast page or talked much about the people at work lately. There are regular staff changes. Anders is the one who has been there the longest. Apart from me. And he’s just really cool and smart in a sort of nerdy way. But in a cool nerdy way, not a nerdy nerdy way. He’s funny and kind and I hope all the best for him. If I had been less socially repressed I would have loved to have a friend like him.

Speaking of presents and friendly people… I got a letter from my ISP. They are upgrading my internet free of charge. I have 4096/768 today. That will be bumped up to 8032/768. Whoa. 8mbit internet. Imagine all the porn/illegal mp3s/copyrighted movies/pirated games I can download. And fast, too. No but seriously, who needs internet that fast? It’s silly. I shall have to cut off the surplus and distribute it to the poor.

My new meds are in the form of tiny little tubes. They are hard to swallow. The old ones were normal, round pills. Much nicer. Guess you have to suffer for your happiness.

I’m getting so much blog spam that I’m considering drastic measures. Like requiring registration to comment. I would hate to do that though. Spammers must die.

But apart from that I’m very weekend.

The strike is still going on. But today the animals were outside anyway. I guess they figured it wasn’t fair that all the stupid human political agendas should force the animals to be inside all day.

So that was nice. And of course, when there are animals out… the kids will be there.

No kids actually at the playground. But there was a birthday party going on in one of the appartments overlooking the playground. And when they saw that there were animals outside they all came running down.

If there is something good I can take from this strike then it is the fact that it has become quite clear to me that I don’t just go to the playground because of the animals. It is also very much for the people. The kids, the adults, the visitors. I am still happy to just sit down with the goats. But it’s much better when there are humans around too. So I can take comfort in that fact that there is still a part of me that wants human contact and hopefully that will motivate me to keep fighting against the social phobia.

And…

there is…

..reason to smile. Lovely lambs.

I am on my new meds now. Half dosage for a week’s time, then up to full speed. So far so good. My mood at least has been okay. I haven’t been sleeping too well though, so very tired. But hopefully that’ll stabilize too.

So now that you have twisted my arm, I guess I’ll talk a little about the strike. Keeping in mind that I am not the most politically aware person. So if you want a really deep insight then go look it up somewhere else. But basically the situation is as follows: Denmark has a great economy, we’re filthy rich. And so logically we cut the funds for the elderly and the children. Makes perfect sense doesn’t it?

Yeah. Just because we have a nice surplus doesn’t mean we should go recklessly spending it of course. But really. The elderly and the kids? That’s where we need to save? Personally I’d say that’s where we need to spend MORE money, but that’s just me.

So all the kindergartens and daycare centers and places where they take care of kids are on strike. They do not want to accept the budget cuts. I fear the strikes probably won’t do much good. But I am very sympathetic to them. I understand them.

This brings us to my feelings towards our current government. They are not good. I know I am putting things a bit on the spot, but basically they got power of government with two tactics. 1 = tax cuts. Or tax “stop” I think it was. Denmark is one of the countries in the world with the highest taxes. So it’s always a good way to get votes. Basically it’s saying “Here, we’ll pay you to vote for us”. People think “oh great, less taxes. Awesome”. And then six months later when the daycare centers and hospitals have to close then they have forgotten all about it. Sure, taxes suck. Wouldn’t we all want to pay as little as possible? But Denmark has one of the best welfare systems in the world and I believe it’s worth paying taxes to keep that going. Maybe that’s selfish of me, because I am the prototype of the kind of person who needs the support of the system. But when I am all better and paying many taxes I will be happy to know that the money is going to people who need it. I am a big fan of the strong helping the weak. Our current government has more of an “every man for himself” idiology.

The second part of their rise to power was collaborating with Pia Kjærsgaard and Dansk Folkeparti. Or “the nazi party” as we fondly call them. No, well it’s not that bad. There is more to them than their xenophobic views. But nonetheless. For the sake of fairness I should say that I support the opposition. So I am biased. But even if the party that I support got into government by making deals with Dansk Folkeparti and cutting funds from the weak then I would not be happy. Power is not everything. I would not want to rule the world if I had to sell my soul to get there.

Also our prime minister is such a Bush wannabe. Lying to us to get us into wars where we do not belong. Spending money on military instead of our children. Making us a potentially popular terrorist target.

So there you go. I am not at all happy with our current government. I hope they don’t succeed in ruining all the nice things we have going for us here. I am not the kind of person to swell with national pride, but I do believe Denmark has a lot going for it. So far. You know, the worst thing is that they’re going to get away with it. Like Bush being re-elected. I’m sure our current government will stay in power. One way or the other. Because when it comes down to it, who cares about the kids and the elderly anyway? Who cares about wars and lies? As long as we have a big fat bank account and low taxes then everybody will be happy.

Enough politics. They always make me cynical. The world would probably collapse if everyone was as naive as me. But then maybe we could rebuild a beautiful, naive world in its place.

Thus endeth the politics lesson. Any questions, feel free to ask. Maybe next time I’ll give you a lesson on our monarchy.

I am a veritable encyclopedia danoise.