A Happy New Year.

Happy New Year, guys. First post this year, and also the first in a while. The last weeks in Dublin wasn’t too calm, as I think I did mentioned, which also are the fact for the first week back in Norway. Finally recovered from my Irish cold at Christmas Eve, I spent this last week to mostly voluntarily a series of visits around the icy Inland to relatives of different kinds. Charming. The Tour ended New Years Eve as my friend (and his Charming Housewife), the Movements former Correspondent in Stok-on-Trent, United Kingdom, invited to a Party, Last Nite of the Proms style at his residence outside Oslo. So, a warm greeting to him, “wife”, Ludvig and Soland. Cheers to ye for the best New Years Eve this decade, which in other words means in this decade.

Then, since I for the first time in 10 years haven’t made up any status or rather a post mortem of the year that went over in history two days ago, let’s do that, just for the crack. Since I have a huge faith in the humanity, let’s start with the top 10 disappointments in 2008:
1: The Norwegian Labour Party. – Social Democrats, turncoats: same shite.
2: Israel. – Another year of terror, threats and other forms of Missile Diplomacy.
3: The EU. – Thatcher, Big Brother, Goebbels, Lloyd George and Berlusconi couldn’t do it better.
4: Socialistic Left Party. – More interested in internal struggling and symbols than Socialism.
5: The Economic System. – Work the crap out of you so your bosses may crap on you.
6: UCD’s International Office. –Give me an advisor who really wants to help me.
7: Norwegian Exchange Students. – What’s wrong with ye? It’s allowed to be polite!
8: The Labour Marked (spring). –Why the complaining of too few workers when ye don’t need them?
9: Raufoss. – Still relegated, and little hope beyond that.
10: City of Cork. – A great place to go through. By night. At the Highway.

Feeling slightly better I think I will turn to the top 10 highlights of the year, which compared to the 2007 list are quite more colourful, fairly longer and more memorable:
1: The Bloody Sunday Monument in Derry.
2: To work at Transocean Artic, an oil platform.
3: To finally get to Ireland.
4: Sinn Féin’s, and Libertas’, victory in the Lisbon Treaty Referendum.
5: To finally get to Scotland.
6: The expression in the former Midlands Correspondent’s face at Westminster Bridge in April.
7: To celebrate a sunny May 17th in Bergen as the rest of Norway had the worst weather in 50 years.
8: Belfast (and Edinburgh rocks!)
9: The Wolfe Tone Concert at UCD.
10: The Haggis in Inverness. (And later in Edinburgh)
(11: The Graythwaite Guest House, 106 Lancaster Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire!)

The top 10 list could easily been made longer, perhaps made into a top 20, and I had a hell of filling all the places in the low 10 list, which are a significant difference from the 2007 record, which is positive, indeed. I would dare to rank it as the best year since 2005, I have no idea how healthy it is to rank your years, but at least then you have something to reach towards, and/or to remember.

Finally, it is not most important to have a lot of different Tops and Lows, but, experiences. Things learned are the only thing from a closed chapter in the History we may carry with us into the New Year, hence:
The Top 10: Things I have learned.
1: After the collapse of Capitalism: the need of Socialists and Communists.
2: After the Irish NO: The People have the abilities to fight the rulers if necessarily.
3: Nihilism isn’t necessarily something bad.
4: Hide symbols in the North, you never know when the UVF are marching.
5: Always bring a photo camera.
6: After the Irish NO: The People’s meaning count for nothing in modern Democracy.
7: Facebook sucks.
8: Expect the unexpected when you don’t need a miracle.
9: French is NOT a world language.
10: Vive la Morte, and keep on.