What have I been doing?

I have watched the Matrix trilogy. I bought it on DVD just before my TV died. So it had been sitting on the desk and mocking me with its presence. Finally got to watch the whole thing. Looked gorgeous on my new widescreen TV of doom.

And I liked it. I liked the ending. I also liked the ending of Monkey Island 2. I like all endings that everyone else in the world hates. At least that is my current theory. I’ll have to see if I can find more evidence. Can anyone name an ending that everybody hates? I can’t think of any others.

Also, I like how the Matrix was a lot like a lucid dream. I think Morpheus even said it “have you ever felt like you’re in a dream and you can’t wake up?”. Something like that. Which is exactly the feeling I have had in my lucid dreams. Also Neo being able to manipulate the Matrix, that’s a common thing when you become aware that you are in a dream, then you often get the power to control and manipulate the dream. So I can only conclude that I am The One and that I am meant to liberate all humans from our machines. I will start with all the parking meters. I will insert bubblegum in them. And so starts the revolution.

I have been printing photos for the playground. Finally. Bought some nice photopaper. Unfortunately I ran out of ink halfway through. So I’ll need to get a refill before I can finish it all for the “exhibition”. It’s quite nice to see them as actual physical photographs. Although some of them, especially the older ones, don’t look quite as good as they do on the screen. Maybe I should have sent them out and had them printed at a professional place. Or maybe it’s just because my older photos are at too low a resolution. It’s not important though, they do look good enough to be displayed in a non-professional way. Yup yup.

I have also completed Oblivion, the game. Completed the main quest at least. The game doesn’t end after you win it. And I still have a good chunk of the world to explore. But I am grand champion of all things.

You know, in computer games and dreams and movies I am a lot more than I am in real life.

Oh wait, in real life I am champion hero of the goats. I rescued them from a most dangerous enemy. Look at this picture:

You might have to click on it and view the large version to see the enemy in question. It is a black plastic bag. Up against the fence, by the foot of the middle tree.

It quite startled the goats. I don’t blame them, at first I thought it was an animal too. But then I realized it was just a plastic bag, blown up against the fence by the strong wind that day.

You can see how the goats are watching it. They acted just like they act when a dog is near. They bunch up together in a group. Almost forming a semi-circle. And then they stare, stare intensely. It’s kinda funny how they react, they get scared but they don’t run away. It almost seems like they are both fascinated and scared at the same time. They keep very close watch until they are sure the dog is gone. Or the plastic bag.

3B was very brave though. You can tell he’s got ambitions to be the big male. He went all the way up to the fence and investigated the bag all by himself. Right until a gust of wind made the bag jump around and then 3B jumped very quickly as far away as he could.

I went and picked up the bag. Held it out to show them that it wasn’t anything dangerous. But they still stayed in that semi-circle and watched the bag like they were hypnotized. So I went and dumped it in a garbage bin and then the goats could relax again. The Mighty Plume had vanquished the evil presence of the plastic bag monster.

More playground fun:

See, 3B is very brave. Sometimes he’ll even stand up to Mads. Not for too long of course. Mads is still too strong. But he don’t take no crap, little 3B.

Mads watching Kurt. Mads does not only like to watch things and people. He also likes watches.

At least my watch. Every day. Every single day. He gnaws at my watch. It’s an old, cheap watch so I just let him do it. I’m a little surprised that the watch has survived so long actually. And a little surprised that Mads still hasn’t learnt that he can’t eat it. But when he’s got food on his mind then he’ll gnaw at everything. My arms too. I got a couple of bruises at the moment. But I don’t mind. If I could I’d roast up one of my arms and serve it for him. Well, not really. But maybe a finger or two.

Met Big Tiger again. He is a cuddly sorts. I always meet him the same place. A stretch of pavement right outside Jannie’s house funnily enough. Jannie who I am the replacement for at the playground, in case you forgot. I actually think Big Tiger belongs to her neighbour. I saw them with a pet cage. And we’re not allowed to have pets. Hmmm. I think he is their cat and they just let him walk around outside on his own. So they can’t be accused of keeping cat. Not that I’d accuse them, I love bumping into the little Big Tiger.

Family resemblance? Magnethe and her boy.

Springbok did his own version of the great escape. The metal fence was bent just a little and he was able to squeeze out. I brought him back in. And he did it again. So then I put a stick in the fence so it couldn’t be bent and that was the end of Springbok’s career as escape artist.

And that’s a picture of Vanilje, just so she won’t feel left out.

C’est tout. That’s all. See y’all in the next round.

There are news in the life of Plume, but first here are some pictures from the playground.

Magnethe. Isn’t she gorgeous? She is almost back to full size after giving birth.

It is I on the right.

Like peas in a pod. Or bodysnatchers in a pod.

Looking out from the inside.

3b & Magnethe part 1.

And part 2.

Finally a little bittle chicken:

Tiny chicken makes the bunny look giant. Be sure to notice that there are two chickens in the picture. Don’t overlook the tiny one. They are eying the bunny’s apple.

Chicken, hen, I don’t know.

Lots of playground goodness.

I am tired and sore. From buying the TV. It was a spur of the moment thing. I went on Sunday. One of the few Sundays where the stores are open. I was planning to buy a cheap 21-22 inch tv. When I got there I saw a “previously rented out” model. 28 inches. Only marginally more expensive than the cheap ones I was looking for. So I decided, what the heck. It’s a giant, beautiful set. Much nicer than my old one. I decided to get it. I know that since it’s been previously owned I can’t expect it to last me another 10 years. But for now it’s rather big and gorgeous. So I’m quite happy with it. As I said though, it was a bitch to get home. We don’t have a car. I guess I could have taken a cab. Or asked if they could deliver it for a little extra fee. But I decided to bring it home on my own. I got a shopping trolley and asked the clerk if he thought I could wheel the TV home in that. He looked at it for 10 seconds and said “hmm well we can see if it fits. Although we have a wagon thingie that you could maybe borrow, that might be better”. He went out back and came back with this:

Handier than a shopping trolley for sure. And it wasn’t that bad really. The store wasn’t too far away. Of course I had to go back with the wagon afterwards. So it was a double trip back and forth. I was very tired and sore yesterday. Quite a lot better today, though still tired. So that is the story of my brilliant new TV. It came without a box so I had the TV sitting on that wagon there and just dragged it home. I was nervously eying the rainclouds in the distance. Luckily I avoided them.

That wasn’t the news I was talking about though. You may remember that I had a meeting with my social worker a week or two ago. And I said there were some developments, but I didn’t specify it any further. Well, one of them was a meeting at TMU. Tilværelse Med Udsigt. Which translates to something like “life with value”. Or outlook. Literally Life With a View, I guess. My social worker brought it up as a possibility. And he set up the meeting for me. I went with Sanne, my boss at Kulturgyngen.

TMU is a place where people like me, people with various problems, get help to move on with their life and find out what their future should be. They take as much time as they need, basically once you start there they won’t let you go until you either have a job, you have started an education or you get disability retirement. So it’s sort of a last stop. They work with you individually, find out what you’re good at, what your problems are and what you need to move on. That’s the sales pitch, I think. I got a really good impression of the place actually. The guy we talked to was really nice and down to earth. And the place sounds good. It sounds like a place that could help me move on. They have a physiotherapist and a psychologist. They can help me with moving out possibly. And he told me that in their current group there are 3-4 people who suffer from social phobia. So they have some experience with that. They have good contacts when it comes to flex-jobs too. Flex-job is a model where you don’t necessarily work full time, you get a job that’s tailor made for you. Work hours and special needs you may have. I think flex-job might be something for me. I have problems just getting through a stressfree 5 hour work day at Gyngen. I don’t know if I can handle a fulltime job. And I don’t really have great ambitions. I don’t need a fantastic job, a giant house, a huge paycheck. I would settle for just feeling okay. Getting rid of the depression and working on my social phobia problems, that’s more important to me than a fancy title and lots of money. A cheap, small appartment and a job that doesn’t kill me. That’d be good.

I now have until the end of the week to decide if I want to say yes to TMU. But I have pretty much decided already. I pretty much decided right when Sanne and I left the place. It sounds like a good place, it’s not too scary, they have experience with people like me. And I would like to have a conclusion soon, knowing where I’m going and how to get there. I think TMU can do that for me.

Only two small problems. One is that the place is far out in the countryside and I will have to have annoying bus trips every day. But that’s manageable. The second thing is that the next group start isn’t until February. So I’ll have to wait for that. My current “contract” at Kulturgyngen runs till the end of the year. So I’ll see that out and then, as the guy we talked to said, I’ll have January to relax and get ready for the new beginning.

They have around 30 people in each group. But it doesn’t really function as ONE group. They work with individuals so it’s more like 30 groups. And you can have as much or as little to do with the others as you wish. So in that way too it sounds like a good place for me, where I can take it slow. And if I need it then I can go and sit for myself in one of the back rooms. That’s something I can use. At Gyngen I have to go to the bathroom periodically just to sit down on my own in a private space without people around. I think a lot of my exhaustion comes from being in a space with people too. It certainly disappears when I go and sit on a bench with some goats.

Alrite. That is all. Onwards, upwards.